family ties
by mataulvr
Summary: Ironhide finds a young baby and decides to take care of it, he and Ratchet and the rest of the Autobots have a lot on their hands as they try to raise a young girl, into a woman.
1. Chapter 1

Ironhide was pissed, more pissed than normal to say

Ironhide was pissed, more pissed than normal to say. It was raining he was muddy and stuck. On patrol and searching for decepticons Ironhide had spotted something out in a field and trained to let nothing past him drove to it. Unfortunately half way there the mud sucked up at his tires, he tried to spin out and gain some friction but he was down right stuck. The object was still a ways away but he could tell it wasn't a decepticon. It was small and shaped much like a bucket, the thing intrigued him.

"slag it" he muttered, his head lights flashed brightly as he put all of his effort into getting out of the mud, it proved useless.

Next to the field Ironhide was currently stuck in was a busy highway, Transforming was not an option, too many people would see him.

This was downright unfair, Ironhide was a good soldier, he didn't need this, what had he ever done to deserve this. Ironhide hated this, his com link then opened, Optimus began to talk.

"Ironhide, Optimus, where are you? Your late"

"uh, im following a car which could be a decepticon" Ironhide revved his engine and tried feebly to get out.

"do you need back up?" Optimus asked concerned.

"uh negative, I'll be ok" Ironhide considered transforming and getting out of this.

"alright, don't take too long" Optimus cut the connection and Ironhide was once again left to get out of the mud by himself.

The object in front of him suddenly gave out a cry. Wait buckets didn't do that? Right? Ironhide activated his holoform and got out, he pulled himself out of the mud and walked over to the object. The object was a bucket, there just happened to be a human baby inside. The baby was squirming, the bucket was already half full of water due to the rain, it was shivering, lips blue. It looked up at Ironhide pitifully, it raised its arms and asked silently to be lifted out of the cold hell it was enduring. Ironhide complied and raised the small child out of its bucket.

"what are you doing here?" Ironhide asked, he didn't expect an answer and got none. The baby just shivered and held onto him tightly trying to draw in his warmth. It cried into his chest, as even more rain fell onto it. Ironhide wrapped his arms around the small child and tried to keep it warm as he made his was back to his original form. There he had the heater already going.

Once at the truck the door opened and Ironhide placed the baby inside on him, the seatbelt snaked its way around the waist and tightened slightly. Ironhide himself in holoform stayed outside. He walked to his front and began to push, the wheels began to move backwards and soon with his strength he was able to get out of the mud. Ironhide's holoform disappeared and the truck kicked into drive. He was driving as fast as he could, the baby in his seat was crying and screaming and kicking out at mostly anything those legs could reach.

He was muddy, tired and badly needed recharge when he finally reached the base. Ironhide grumbled and groaned as he drove into the makeshift base the government had provided the Autobots. Sam the boy who had gotten rid of Megatron walked up to Ironhide.

"hey Hide" suddenly a cry exited Ironhide's exterior. "what the heck was that?" Sam asked walked over to Ironhide, and pulled the door open, he saw the baby and gasped. Sam quickly took the child out of the seat and held it close. "how the hell do you get a baby?" Sam fortunately had experience with children, due to an aunt with a child and being forced to baby sit. He held the baby tightly as it squirmed against his grasp, trying to get back to Ironhide. It screamed, yelled and thrashed. Ironhide was a source of heat for the still cold child, it wanted heat and it wanted it now.

Ironhide transformed and stood above the two, the baby itself stopped crying almost immediately. It tilted its head to the side open mouthed; drool exited its mouth to rest on its damp clothes.

Sam laughed "I think this one likes you"

Ironhide stiffened, not liking that comment "how would you know?"

"Listen" Sam said smiling "do you hear that? … Silence, you intrigue this baby" Sam shifted the baby in his grasp. The baby began to cry again, its wails were heard by every one else who happened to be in the base at the time. Ratchet entered the room first.

"what the hell is that noise?"

Sam held up the child "Ironhide found a baby" Ratchet looked at Ironhide and sputtered. Soon every one else was in the room, Optimus directed his gaze at Ironhide.

"well" he said "how did this happen?"

Ironhide held the back of his neck, he then explained himself and then waited for the others to bring in all he just said.

Bumblebee with his new voice asked "who would do that to a human child?" he looked down at the baby when he asked. The baby itself looked up at him and continued to bawl its eyes out.

Sam shook his head "some people are bad that way, they cant handle the child and leave it out to die, its fortunate Ironhide found this one"

Ratchet held out his hand and asked Sam to place the baby on his hand, once the child was in place he brought it up to his face. The baby stopped crying once again, its head tilted once more to the side as it examined the large face staring down at it. "it's a girl" Ratchet said, "she's hungry and her body temperature is too cold for my liking" he looked up at the others, Ratchet was one to take charge when others were sick, ike the infant, he would not rest until the child was safe and her health was up to what he preferred. "Sam and Bumblebee, I need you to go out and by some baby food and milk for her, try different types, we'll see which one she likes best."

Ironhide stepped in "wait, we're taking care of that thing?" every one gave him a look that suggested duh.

Optimus patted Ironhide on the shoulder "we're Autobots remember, helping humans is what we do… we will help this one too"

"but cant we just drop it off at a hospital or something" Ironhide protested.

"I don't trust those places" Ratchet said still looking at the child in his hand. "Ironhide your going to be helping me in the lab, we need to get this child warm. Optimus can you get some cloth or something we can wrap this baby with?" Optimus nodded, he then headed out and went to go look for the requested items.

Ratchet pushed Ironhide with his free hand and ushered him out of the room and into the med lab. There he placed the girl on the table and told Ironhide to watch her while he got the necessary things for what he had planned for her.

Ironhide looked down at the infant, she was silent as she stared up at him, something about him and Ratchet had caught her eye and she was mesmerized by it. Ironhide stared back at the child as she gurgled happily still occasionally giving a hiccup or a shiver, his heaters had done most of the job but she still needed to be stabilized.

Ironhide growled "what are you looking at?" the child giggled and smiled a toothless smile at him.

Optimus came in a few minutes later; he held some cloth and placed it on the table next to the girl. He then left with out a word. Ratchet came just as soon as Optimus left, he held a tub which was full of warm water. He placed it down.

"get the child undressed" he ordered Ironhide

"you want me to what?" Ironhide asked taking a step away from the baby, which lay on the table shivering fully now. She trembled as Ironhide took a glance at her. "nuh uh, I wont do it"

Ratchet stood up and stalked towards him "your not the one who has to bathe the thing, just get it undressed"

Ironhide said a few choice words as he turned on his holoform, he knelt down next to the child and began to take off its clothes. Soon it was a pink squirming thing in his hands, Ratchet took her from him and began to bathe her. the whole bathing process took no more than five minutes, the child was soon giggling and gurgling, rosy flush had entered her cheeks and she looked ready for bed.

The infant was then wrapped in clothes and put back down on the table. Both robots watched as the child wriggled a bit and then went to sleep, thumb in her mouth. Ironhide turned to leave when Ratchets arm on his shoulder stopped him.

"your not leaving, you get first watch, babies need constant care" Ratchet whispered, he pushed Ironhide back to the table, gave him a threatening glare and went into the next room where a recharge bed lay waiting for him.

"why me?" Ironhide asked to no one, the baby sighed contentedly in answer. "I don't deserve this, I saved you and that should be good enough, caring for you is well past the hero contract" Ironhide looked down at the small child and sighed, he turned around and sat down using the table for a back rest.

A few hours later Ironhide was jostled out of his day dream when the baby began to cry. Ironhide stood up, he had no idea what was wrong, the baby looked up at him pitifully asking to be picked up. he did pick up the child and began to rock it gently in his hands. The baby cried harder, Ratchet ran out of the room,

"what did you do?" he asked harshly.

"nothing, the thing just started yelling- it wont shut up"

"why are you rocking it?" Ratchet asked.

"that's what the internet told me to do" Ironhide argued.

"your doing it wrong"

"how would you know. Go away" Ironhide snapped.

"make it stop" Ratchet said through what sounded like gritted teeth.

"im doing the best I can" Ironhide growled. The rocking continued and still the baby cried. "maybe its hungry" Ironhide suggested.

"where is Sam" Ratchet said whirling around, "the human child needs food"

Sam came in a few seconds later almost as if on cue "sorry it took me so long, there was so much baby food I couldn't decide" Sam held four bags full of food and other such things, Bumblebee came in right after him carrying even more bags. Sam smiled "enjoy" he then walked out Bumblebee in trail after him. the old bots were once again left to care for a child- something they knew very little about.

The two began to shift throughout the bags searching for something to give to the baby, "here try this" Ironhide passed Ratchet a can of food, Ratchet opened it and began to offer it to the child. She ate it and gave out a loud burp, smiling happily up at them she giggled.

Ironhide looked at the child "is she still hungry?"

Ratchet shook his head "dunno" suddenly another sound filled the room, it was far to disgusting for description, the bots flinched and looked at the happy child. She had some how managed to grab a hold of her foot and was trying to stick it in her mouth. She turned her bright green eyes towards them and laughed, it was a far nicer sound than the one before.

"what was that sound before?" Ironhide asked.

It took Ratchet a while to answer for he was searching on the internet for its meaning, when he found it he stiffened. "uh its what humans call flatulence, or farts. I think this baby emptied its fuel tank… you change it" he pushed Ironhide towards the baby.

"no way" Ironhide held out his hands trying to find something to hold onto, he dug his heels into the ground and tried not to be pushed towards the baby. "I had to undress it, your changing it"

"no im not doing it" Ratchet continued to try and push Ironhide towards the table.

"you're the doc, you do it"

"no thanks… you found it you take care of it, im just you're assistant, you get to do the hardcore stuff" Ironhide was finally at the table, Ratchet bopped him on the head and then hurried out of the room, locking the door firmly behind him.

Ironhide's shoulders fell a few inches "what am I supposed to do?" he was once again talking to himself. An internet search told him what to do and he did not like the procedure one bit.

It took him a good ten minutes to figure out the diaper, and then get it on the constantly moving child. He threw away the old one and sighed, leaning down next to the child he shook his head.

"your more trouble than I thought" he said to the laughing child. She was rolling back and forth on her back staring up at him at the same time. Ironhide moved so that his hands were on either side of her ready to catch her or stop her from rolling off the table. The girl rolled in to the side of his hands and stopped, Ironhide thinking she had hurt herself picked her up and brought her close to his face. She turned over and smiled at him. it was one of those adorable smiles that would stay in his spark and mind forever. With a hand she reached out and stroked the metal plating on the side of his face. She gave off a sigh, her hand slipped off of him and she then was asleep- just like that. Her content little sighs made Ironhide smile, she was cute, he had to admit that. With a nod he sat down, the child still in his hand and then went into his much needed recharge.


	2. Chapter 2

Both Ironhide and the baby were asleep when Ratchet entered the room; he smiled and quickly checked on the child

Both Ironhide and the baby were asleep when Ratchet entered the room; he smiled and quickly checked on the child. She snorted and looked up at him.

"how are you?" Ratchet whispered, leaning down to get a better look at the baby.

"gaaruge" the baby replied

"is that so" Ratchet picked her up and began to cradle her in his giant hand. Ironhide noticed the babies lack of presence in his hand and awoke. When he saw Ratchet he immediately relaxed. Ratchet looked at him "morning"

Ironhide smiled "seems that you have a soft spot for the child"

Ratchet smiled back at him "so do you" it took Ironhide a moment realize that what he said was true.

"guess so" Ironhide shifted over so that he could look at the baby. "you know what I don't get" He said after a moment. "is why some human would want to give away this baby, she's done nothing wrong"

Ratchet shrugged "its like what Sam said, humans cant handle them some times, which reminds me, this one needs a diaper change" he was about to hand Ironhide the baby but she wasn't accepted.

"your turn" Ironhide smiled at him. Ratchet began to grumble but when to do the task any ways.

"she needs some food" Ratchet told Ironhide. Ironhide began to shift throughout the many bags.

After all of the changing and feeding was done, both bots sat back.

"I think we should keep it" Ratchet said after a moment.

"what? Why?" Ironhide looked at him sharply.

"well since the humans don't seem to want her, we should take care of her"

"they don't deserve to have her, if they left her out in a field" Ironhide agreed.

"we can do it, you and me, it shouldn't be so hard" Ratchet smiled at the self entertained girl on the table, she was once again trying to get her foot and stuff it in her mouth.

"alright" Ironhide said, "we will take care of this human child"

Sam happened to be walking at Ironhide's words. "really, that's so cool. You gotta give her a name"

Both bots turned to look at Sam "name?" they asked.

"sure come on, name her"

The two thought for a moment, they came up with nothing. Sam shook his head. "I think we need to ask permission from Optimus first, to keep the child" Ratchet said. Ironhide nodded. He scooped up the child and both of them marched out to find Optimus.

"you want to WHAT?" Optimus asked obviously surprised, he would have never suspected something like this to happen, this was totally out of his element.

"we wish to keep the child" Ratchet said.

"we'll take good care of it we promise." Ironhide filled in.

Optimus didn't know what to say "I-I suppose" he looked at the happy baby in Ratchets hand "she seems happy with you" after a moment he made up his mind "alright you may keep the child, but both of you are guardians for her" the bots nodded and thanked him, then headed out of the office.

"well" Ironhide said "I suppose we have to name her now"

Ratchet nodded "what name?" he asked. Both stopped their walking and sat down to asses this difficult situation. Names were shouted out, neither liked them. Sam came and sat with them, he was naming every girl he had a crush on, and none of them had a good name.

"argh this naming thing is hard" Ironhide said after a moment.

"we've been at this a good hour" Ratchet said playing softly with the baby in his hand. He kept poking her softly in the side and then pulling away, she would giggle hysterically and try to grab his finger.

"how about Alana " Optimus' voice came from behind them. Every one turned to look at him.

Ratchet looked down at the baby "do you like that name" she laughed, it was settled, from now on she was Alana.

Ratchet had taken a test of Alana's DNA, he had told every one that she was less than one. At his words Sam shook his head.

"some people are just stupid."

"I agree" said Bumblebee, he held Sam and nodded. From that moment on Alana was accepted into the group of the Autobots.

Alana and grew until she was one, of course she couldn't stand or anything like that but her first words were ones that Ironhide and Ratchet would never forget- it still mortified them to the day.

Alana was sitting in her little booster seat, watching Ratchet trying to find his wrench, something had fallen apart, and the wrench he needed just happened to be missing. She watched with great amusement as he searched through cupboards' and boxes. He opened one cupboard.

"slag it" a hammer fell on his head, Alana laughed. Ratchet turned to look at her "that's not funny, it hurt" she had the gall to laugh at him again. Ratchet shook his head and went about his usual business. He opened another cupboard and a tool box fell on him this time. "slag it" he kicked the tool box and felt a pain go up his foot "slag it"

All of a sudden from behind him Alana shouted "SLAG IT" she laughed and said it again "Slag it"

Ratchet stiffened. you didn't just sa-"

"slag it" she interrupted him with another blasphemy.

Ratchet looked at her "no don't say that" Ironhide came in.

"don't say what?" he asked

Ratchet didn't have to answer Alana did "SLAG IT" she screamed it from the top of her lungs.

Ironhide narrowed his optics and turned to Ratchet "what did you do?"

Ratchet stalked up towards him finger high, pointing in his face "it wasn't my fault"

"sure as hell looks like it"

"HELL" Alana liked choosing all of the wrong words.

Ratchet punched Ironhide "look what you made her say"

"it was your fault"

"wasn't"

"was"

"no"

"yes"

"no" Ironhide and Ratchet were so close to pummeling each other. When all of a sudden Alana shouted again.

"NO, no, no, no, no, no" she smiled happily and went on to say her new found word, it was easier to say and much more fun. Both bots turned to look at her.

Ironhide crossed his arms happily "see I converted her" he gestured toward the screaming child.

"oh yah great job" muttered Ratchet. He went over to her and knelt down. "Alana …" she couldn't hear him over her own screaming, she went right on saying her new word.

"no no no no no" she was laughing during her screams.

Sam suddenly ran in the room, hands over his ears "what the HELL is that noise?" he shouted. Alana stopped screaming to look at Sam, her head was tilted.

Ratchet shouted "no"

And Ironhide shook his head "here we go again"

Alana opened her mouth and screamed "hell!" Sam blinked a few times.

"oh crap sorry, I didn't mean to do that" Alana stopped screaming once more. Ironhide stood in front of Alana .

"please don't say it" he begged.

Alana disobeyed him "Crap" she said to him very calmly.

Ratchet slumped his shoulders "how does she know?" he asked.

"nononocraphellslagit" Alana said altogether, she was very proud of her new words.

Sam walked up to Alana and knelt down before her "how do we teach her good words"

"that doesn't seem possible" Ratchet called out. Alana grabbed Sam's arm with her small one.

"no" she told him.

"is that so" Sam sat down next to her. "why is that"

"no" she said again.

"no, is the best we got, I suppose" Ironhide said.

"that is true" Sam said patting Alana on the head.

"I think we need a new rule" Ironhide said "no more bad words around Alana"

"that would seem to be the best idea" Ratchet said with a nod. He then went back to looking for the wrench he was looking for.

Alana, was a good girl, her favorite word happened to be no, she had to remind every one of it every day though.

"no" she shouted as Ratchet tried to give her some food as she sat in her booster seat.

"not hungry?" Ratchet asked.

She proceeded to tell him no and a bunch of other things. She seemed to have developed her own language and liked using it a lot. Ratchet sighed, he let her out of her booster seat. Alana was three and had developed her knee caps. She had learned to walk with relative ease. She ran to her little dump truck that Sam had bought for her third birthday. It was red and yellow and it was able to hold her weight as she sat in the back.

Once she was sitting nicely, Ratchet picked up the little truck and placed it down on the ground, he then gave it a good push and Alana was sent flying. She laughed as her truck went careening all over. Since it had been an Autobot pushing the small truck, it could go on forever. It took a good ten minutes for the truck to finally slow down again. Alana giggled and held onto the truck for support, then with out getting up she pushed it over to Ratchet.

"agwain" she called

Ratchet looked down at her "what did you say?" he asked surprised.

"agwain, agwain" she laughed up at him, her eyes twinkling.

"ok" Ratchet said, he silently called over Ironhide- who came bursting through the door.

"what is it?" he asked.

"Alana," Ratchet said leaning down over the girl.

"What did you want?"

"to gwo fast" she said, to show what she meant she pushed the truck and made engine noises. "like you" she said pointing up at the both of them.

Ironhide sat down "she just talked with out saying a bad word" he said pointing out the obvious. "doesn't that take a long time? To convert her I mean?" he asked looking up at Ratchet.

"I guess not" Ratchet said smiling. Alana got in her truck and waited for some one to push her.

"you can do the honors" Ratchet stepped aside so that Ironhide could give the girl a push. Alana was given another good push, she began to laugh as the bots sat back to look at their girl with a smile.

Ironhide was brought out of recharge by a loud scream, he turned to see Alana in his room, she was chewing on a trigger of a very sensitive gun.

"oh dang" Ironhide said as he got up and took the child of the gun. "Alana what were you doing that for?"

Alana pointed to her mouth, next to her front teeth was blood "hurts" she said, crying. Ironhide sat down and tried to look closer at her mouth. Alana was a late bloomer, not all of her teeth had grown in at her age. One tooth just refused to come out but it seemed that it was now. "make it stop" she pleaded him.

"I'll try" Ironhide stood up and walked over to Ratchet's med lab, where to bot was sure to be.

Ironhide pushed the door open loudly causing Ratchet to start. "slag it" he shouted.

Alana giggled and opened her mouth "SLA-" Ironhide's finger stopped her.

"no Alana" he said.

"what is it now" Ratchet asked walking over to Alana.

She pointed to her mouth "hurts" she said.

Ratchet took Alana and asked her to open her mouth wide. "ok your final tooth is coming in, I cant do anything, sorry Alana" Ratchet said looking down at her sadly.

"what about ice?" Ironhide suggested.

Ratchet gave him a look that suggested im-the-doctor-I-know-what-is-best-so-why-don't-you-shut-up. "the ice would stop the tooth from coming in and therefore slow the whole process entirely" Ironhide and Alana oh'd in unison. "sorry" Ratchet said handing Alana back to Ironhide. Alana looked up at him and shrugged.

"it don't hurt so bad" she said.

Ratchet smiled "you're a brave girl"

"thank wyou" Alana said, Ironhide put her down and she ran toward her dump truck. The bots then went back to their tasks, they had a normal day ahead. One filled of repairing weapons and having numerous tools falling on ones head.


	3. Chapter 3

Alana grew to be a young girl of the age of five

Alana grew to be a young girl of the age of five. She had curly locks of brown hair which seemed to fly all over when she ran. Underneath that hair and pretty smile was an extremely smart mind. She had been living with the Autobots and had to distinguish between what was right and wrong and what could be life threatening, that little thing which most children didn't have to deal with made Alana aware of her surroundings. She had to be able to know that she was not allowed to touch that or she could do that, but seeing that she was a young girl she was hardly perfect with all of her assumptions. That's what got her in front of the TV.

The Autobots had listened to Sam's TV experiences and decided to not let Alana go near theirs. They wanted her to be an intellectual child not some child who lived only for TV. There came to be a rule that who ever used the TV last had to hide the remote away so that Alana could not find it.

Bumblebee happened to be watching some NASCAR when Optimus called him over, he switched off the TV and put the Remote on the floor, forgetting the rule entirely. Alana happened to walk into the room at the same time Bumblebee left; she got a soft pat on the head and was told to be good. She assured him with a laugh.

Alana walked into the room and spotted something that looked like box, she liked boxes, they were fun to climb in. with a smile she ran over to it. She was disappointed to see that the box was closed, but the buttons on top intrigued her. She crouched down low to look at it, and natural curiosity made her touch the button that stood out the most. That happened to be the bright red power button. Alana gasped as the sound of cars filled the room, she looked around and saw that a bunch of really fast cars were on the wall in front of her. She tilted her head to the side, this was so cool! Laughing she trotted over to the big screen and touched it. She touched glass, Wait then this was a window. Alana thought, she had not seen a TV before, wanting to see the cars up close she searched for a door that would take her out side so that she could see the cars.

There happened to be no door, so Alana went to the mysterious black box which had started this all maybe that held the answer to her problems. Once again she studied it and then pressed a button, the screen changed; now there was a man talking. That was no fun, talking was boring, unless she was the one doing it. She pressed the button again, this time a bunch of brightly colored dancers leaped across the stage. Alana laughed and pointed to them. One was making funny movements with his arms and was dancing around some girl. Alana tried to imitate him but only ended up on the floor. But she wasn't deterred, music was playing and she liked the beat, getting up once again she began to jump around.

After a bit of jumping Alana found that the music wasn't loud enough, she wanted every one to hear! So looking once more at the box that controlled all of her fun she pressed another button, the sound went up. The button was pressed until the walls were pounding with the music. Alana was laughing the whole time.

Optimus walked in hands over his audio receptors, once he saw Alana laughing on the ground he slumped his shoulders. Then walking over to the remote he turned off the TV. Alana stopped laughing she got up and looked up at him very seriously.

"no fun" she told him with a shake of her head.

"Alana, you need to be careful, this is a no "Optimus said, he offered her his hand. She got up on it and looked up at him listening fully. Optimus had the ability to grab her full attention. He could lecture her and she would listen to every single word he said. "this is bad for you" Optimus told her, walking out of the room.

"fun" she said. "I want fun" she protested.

"but you have fun, what about that dump truck?" Optimus asked.

"no fun. Like you" Alana hadn't meant any harm by that and Optimus understood that.

"its time for lunch" Optimus said changing the subject. Alana cheered.

Later that night Optimus called a meeting.

"She's found the TV" he told them.

"I knew this day would come" Ironhide said smiling "she's a smart girl; we can't get anything past her any more"

Ratchet shrugged "maybe we should let her watch a few kid shows, you know some are educational"

"It would be better" Bumblebee said "Im finding it difficult to find hiding places for that stupid remote"

Ratchet slapped Bumblebee on the shoulder "but that 'stupid' remote controls most of your entertainment"

Optimus decided that it was time to step in "we need to figure out what shows she can watch"

It was later decided that she could watch three shows a day of a certain type, the Autobots were taking no chances.

The Autobots later walked in the TV room to see Alana, she had taken possession of the remote. It sat next to her as she sat, finger in her nose, watching the history channel. She watched it mostly because of the helicopter shots. When one of them would happen she would get up and move with the way that the helicopter was turning, she found it amazing.

Sam happened to be over one day, he saw Alana with her dump truck and remote and smiled as she ran by the room making all sorts on noises.

"hey Ratchet, how old is Alana?

Ratchet turned to look at him "five, why?"

"she should be going to school" Sam said. "she needs that education that you keep wanting to give her"

"school?" Ratchet said leaning down "I suppose it is a possibility"

"what's a possibility?" Ironhide walked in carrying Alana.

"school for Alana" Ratchet said getting up to look at him.

"school, no way. Im keeping her with me. She aint ever going to a school"

Alana was enrolled the very next day. She was set to start at the beginning of the school year along with every one else. Alana was at first sad that she had to be separated from her beloved Autobots but she grew later excited.

The first day of school came to fast for the Autobots, they liked having a young child around them. She was fun to look out for. She brought a sort of life that the Autobots never had before.

Ironhide volunteered himself to bring Alana to school. Alana talked endlessly on the way. The drive to school was a half hour away, and so Ironhide was forced to drive and listen to a girl had something to say all the time.

"will you be there when school is done, Ironhide?" she asked peering at the steering wheel.

"of course, I'll be there" Ironhide said taking the turn into school. "I have to take you to your class" Ironhide said turning on his holoform. Alana had seen the holoform on many occasions so she was not surprised. Both got out "take my hand" Ironhide said. Alana did as she was told; her eyes scanned the surrounding area. School was bigger than she imagined.

"there are so many kids here "she told him.

"you don't have to go if you don't want to" Ironhide said gripping her hand, he stopped her and moved in front of her. Then kneeling down in front of her he took a shoulder with one hand "im not forcing you to do this"

"I'll do it, I don't want to end up the scum bag some other kids will be, 'cos they watch TV" Alana told him.

Ironhide laughed and with a smile asked her "who told you that?"

"Ratchet, he says TV brain washes people. What does that mean?" she took his shoulder in the same fashion that he was holding her.

Ironhide smiled "you will know when your older. Shall we go inside?"

"OK" Alana smiled, she then skipped inside, all the while holding Ironhide's hand.

Alana was dropped off in her class, Ironhide gave her a quick squeeze and told her to be good, and then left. Alana turned to face the class. Older men and women were hugging a child, telling them that the loved them and would be there to pick them up as soon as school was over. Alana hung up her coat on a hook and went to sit on the floor. She was disappointed; there were no good sized dump trucks there. She wanted to sit in one. Suddenly she saw a pair of legs, looking up she saw a nice looking woman.

"and who are you?" the lady had a nice voice, it was sweet and musical.

"im Alana" Alana stood up, she still had to crane her neck to see the woman though, "who are you?" Alana asked.

The woman smiled "im your teacher"

"oh" Alana tilted her head to the side.

"my name is Mrs. Winkel"

"your name is Winkel?" Alana asked surprised.

Mrs. Winkel laughed "no that's my last name, do you have one?"

Alana shook her head "no"

"no last name?" her teacher frowned. She then moved over to grab a booklet, she looked at it and then at Alana. Her frown intensified. "Who are your parents?" she asked kneeling down to look at Alana better.

Alana could tell that something was wrong but she had to ask a question "what is parents?"

"Oh um, never mind" Mrs. Winkel got up and moved to see the other children.

The school day ended with the bell, Alana was ready to go, she rushed out of the room along with the others. In all honesty she didn't mind school, but she missed home more. One girl whose name she couldn't remember told her,

"I was having so much fun I forgot to miss my mommy and daddy" she left before Alana could ask what a mommy and daddy were.

Ironhide was waiting for her just like he promised, she smiled and got in, the door closed after her. the seatbelt snaked around her waist and pulled tight as Ironhide took off.

"how did it go?" he asked.

"it was ok, I don't think Mrs. Winkel likes me though."

"oh why?"

" 'cos I don't have a last name" Alana said.

Ironhide shook his head mentally "what's a last name?" he asked.

"I don't know" Alana said.

The rest of the trip was made as both were left to contemplate what a last name was.

Once back at the base Ironhide and Alana went over to Ratchet they were very eager to hear what a last name was.

"hey Ratchet" Alana called out.

Ratchet looked up at his name and when he saw who it was he smiled "how was school today" Alana repeated what she had told Ironhide. Ratchet frowned "why is she mad at you?"

Ironhide answered for Alana "she doesn't have a last name, what ever that is"

"what is it?" Alana asked, she perked up, waiting to hear.

Ratchet's metallic brow furrowed "well its when a family-"

He was cut off "what's a family?" Alana asked.

"it's a group of people who live together"

"are we a family?" Alana tilted her head.

"in a way" Ratchet said slowly taking his time to think about what he was going to say. Now back to your first question a last name, its when a family all have different names but their second name the one after their first is all the same and that joins them together as a family"

Ironhide then "ah'd"

Alana looked at him hard "what is our last name?"

Ratchet paused "I don't think we have one"

"so were not a family" Alana said confused.

"no we are" Ratchet said.

"then what is our last name?" Alana argued "we cant be a family with out one"

Ironhide shuffled his feet "oh great another name, those things are so hard to find"

Ratchet smiled "I got this one" he took Alana from Ironhide's hand and brought her up to his face so he could look at her straight in the eye "your last name is Autobot, Alana Autobot. You were always and Autobot you shall always be one"

Alana smiled up at him "thank you" she went to move off his hand when she paused , she turned to look at him. "what's a mommy and what's a daddy"


	4. Chapter 4

Alana continued to go to school, though Mrs. Winkel would give her odd looks at times she would continue on with class. Alana thought the classes were fun, she got to see a whole new world through school, she knew most of the letters of the alphabet by the first week, she would sit and stare up at them trying to memorize them and figure out what the sounds were. All in all she was an incredibly bright girl.

One day when school was over, Alana made her usual rush to the door but a hand stopped her, it was Mrs. Winkel.

"Alana, dear, I need to have a talk with you"

"Ok" Alana was curious as to what the teacher was going to say.

"I want you to tell your daddy that I would like to have a talk with him" Mrs. Winkel smiled sweetly.

"Ok" Alana nodded and walked out of the room.

When she had reached the parking lot she saw that Ironhide was there as always to pick her up.

"Hello Ironhide"

"Hello Alana, how was school today" Ironhide opened the door and let Alana slid into the passenger seat, the seatbelt snaked around her waist and buckled up.

"School was ok"

"Just ok?" Ironhide asked as he drove out into the highway.

"Yah ok"

Once at the base Alana ran into the med office where Ratchet was busy with fixing Bumblebee. Alana climbed up the stairs made just for her and walked out onto the table where Bumblebee was sitting.

"Hello" she called up to Bumblebee.

Bumblebee looked down "hey there Alana" he held out his hand and let Alana climb on. "How was school?"

"Ok" she shrugged and turned to Ratchet, she cleared her throat letting him know she had an important question for him.

Ratchet looked up from his work and turned to face Alana "I'm busy right now Alana, you can ask your question after. Ok?"

"No it's very important" Alana protested.

What's Important" Sam had walked in. he also climbed up the steps, Bumblebee lifted him into the Sam hand Alana was in. He circled an arm around her shoulders.

"Alana has a question for me" Ratchet told Sam "but she is going to have to wait, I'm busy"

"Oh" Sam said "well Alana you can ask me"

Alana shrugged "ok, who is my daddy? Mrs. Winkel wants to talk to my daddy, so I want to know which one is my daddy"

"Oh" Sam said again, he was at loss as to what to tell Alana. Ratchet was obviously thinking hard as well, he had put an elbow on the table and was propping up his head, thinking quite hard.

"Well I suppose Ironhide is your dad, he is more of a fatherly figure than any of us to you"

"Ok" that was good enough for Alana; she really didn't understand the ties between child and parent so it didn't really matter to her who her daddy was, just as long as she had one to present to Mrs. Winkel. She ran down the steps to go and find Ironhide.

He was in his room trying to fix a long rifle, when Alana came in he quickly stashed it behind him.

"Hello Alana"

"Ironhide, Mrs. Winkel wants to see after school tomorrow" with that she smiled and walked out, she had some TV to watch.

The next day after school Ironhide walked in, Alana saw and ran over to him.

"You came you came" she laughed.

Ironhide smiled "well you told me to, now where is your teacher?"

"Over there" Alana pointed; she then took his hand and proceeded to pull him towards the teacher.

The teacher was a kind looking woman but when she saw Alana her eyes darkened, and the look she gave Ironhide wasn't a nice one. She held out her hand and said "hello my name is Mrs. Winkel and you are?"

It had just occurred to Ironhide that his name was not a normal one for humans and if he said it that might make Alana look more strange so he hesitated.

"Uhm, well" _oh darn a human name, uh you were watching a movie with Sam last night, there was a man in it, what was his name again. Oh yah_ "my name is Rick"

"I see" the hesitation had not helped. "Well, your daughter Alana is a bright child but she seemed to have no knowledge of family values."

"Really" Ironhide looked down at Alana; she had gotten bored of the conversation and was trying to fit herself into the back of a small dump truck. Ironhide thought that they had done a good job of raising Alana; she was a smart girl and was perfectly capable to take care of herself.

"Yes I believe it is because she is not getting enough attention at home, she didn't even know what a last name was" Ironhide knew that telling Mrs. Winkel that he didn't what a last name was either until recently, but he knew that was the wrong thing to say.

"Oh well she never bothered to ask us that" Ironhide said instead.

"Well she needs to know these things, her lack of knowledge about them has me worried, which is why Im demanding that you have an inspector stay with you a few days, she is here and ready to be taken home with you" with that Mrs. Winkel smiled sweetly "its for the best"

Ironhide was stunned; he hadn't expected this "say what!? no you don't want to do that"

"Yes I do, I care for Alana and she needs to be taken care of properly, so im just ensuring that your doing a good job" with that she walked into the hall called someone's name and came back in with a woman that looked like she didn't know that there was such a thing as fun. She had her hair up in a bun and wore a skirt and a blouse she looked ready to take over a company.

"My name is Susan" she didn't offer her hand "Im going to be monitoring you for the next week"

"Oh" Ironhide didn't know what to do; he was at loss for words. So in order to get his mind set straight he walked over to Alana and picked her up. She held onto his neck and looked at him lovingly.

"Are we going home now?"

"Yes Alana" with that he walked out of the door. Susan walked behind him she had short steps and her heels clacked annoyingly against the tile of the school.

Alana noticed immediately that she was following them, with a worried look she turned to Ironhide, her nose brushed against his cheek.

"Why is that lady following us?" she asked whispering.

Ironhide frowned "she wants to make sure that you're ok"

Alana turned to the woman "im ok" she told her. The woman raised an eyebrow and continued to follow Ironhide. Alana noticed that she hadn't gone, "are you in trouble?" Alana asked Ironhide.

"We may be Alana, we may be"

"Uh oh" Alana frowned.

Once outside Ironhide walked straight to his original form, he was already notifying the others bout the situation, Optimus told him to delay the woman for as long as possible. They had to think of something. Ironhide nodded, Alana knew that he was in contact with the others, but she didn't ask about it. Ironhide pulled open the passenger door and put Alana in the seat, then ignoring the woman he walked over to his own side and sat down in his seat. Susan had a clipboard out and was scribbling away.

Susan had gotten in the back seat and continued to write, Alana was curious to see what she was writing and got up in her seat and turned around to face her. Susan looked up with a frown.

"Sit down!" she snapped. Alana flinched she wasn't used to such outbursts, the Autobots had always treated her with patience and kindness. She did not sit down.

"Are you coming home with us?"

"Yes now sit down" Susan put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn and sit. Alana huffed and crossed her arms. Ironhide was about to mentally put the seatbelt around Alana when he thought better about that. He leaned over the middle part of the cab and brought the seatbelt around Alana. He gave her a quick squeeze and told her that he would fix this as soon as he could. Alana did not respond she did not want that new woman to come into their home. With that he started and drove out.

Ironhide could tell Alana was mad; he didn't even have to scan her. With a sideways look he slowly began to smile. "Hey Alana-" he was cut off.

"Where is the mother?" Susan asked out of the blue.

Ironhide bit his lip "dead" he said. Alana looked at him, he looked back and winked at her, she caught on and stayed silent.

"Oh well then" there was more writing.

"Hey Alana" Ironhide said.

"Yes" Alana looked at him curiously.

"Want some ice cream?" Ironhide asked. Alana's mad looked turned to one of pure joy.

"YEAH!" she shouted.

"No shouting" Susan said sharply "your parents taught you better, use you're inside voice"

Ironhide's brows furrowed "she's allowed to be excited"

Alana turned around so that she was facing Susan in her seat; she stuck out her tongue and smiled.

They pulled into Dairy Queen and Alana flew to the door, she ran to the counter and breathlessly ordered. She got a large banana split to share with Ironhide. Once they were seated Alana dove into her ice cream along with Ironhide. Ironhide had to admit, this human junk food was good. It was a tradition for him and Alana to eat something yummy together at least once a week, he got to spend time with her and hear her stories of school. In turn he would tell her about some of his missions, those ended up being bed time stories.

But now it was ruined with the presence of Susan. They ate in silence as Susan watched. Once they were done Ironhide decided that was enough delaying and notified every one he was coming home. The all gave him the ok and told him that they were coming out straight with the truth. Ironhide agreed and said that would be the best thing to do.

The drive home was silent, Ironhide secretly couldn't wait to see the look on Susan's face when they transformed in front of her very eyes.

Once at the base Alana ran out, Susan with a frown got out and said "you live here?"

Alana laughed "yup"

Suddenly out of now where a yellow blur came speeding down the path towards the base, Sam was at the wheel, well in the driver's seat; his hands were in the air as he shouted in excitement. Bumblebee saw Ironhide and slammed on the brakes and twisted the wheel, he was sent drifting towards Alana. She laughed as the car came closer and closer. And then and inch away from her stopped.

"Hello Bumblebee, hey Sam" she smiled as Sam got out of the car, his hair was askew and he had a greenish tint to his face.

"Be right back" he said, he ran off to the trees and then a retching sound could be heard. Alana just laughed.

"Oh my" Susan frowned "this is a very bad influence for you" Alana stopped laughing. She frowned and sat on the ground. "Don't do that you'll be dirty" when Alana didn't comply, Susan's face grew red "now listen here child, you will listen to your elders and when I tell you to stand you will do so. Your parents are really not good for you" with that Alana began to cry.

Bumblebee decided that secrecy was going to have to wait, Alana was crying, at the same time Ironhide thought the same thing, they transformed simultaneously and went over to Alana. Bumblebee reached her first, scooped her up and began to rock her.

"Its ok Alana, you don't have to listen to her, you did nothing wrong"

Ironhide looked at Susan; he shook his head and held out his hand for Alana to come on. "You ok?"

She hiccupped and nodded.

"Yup"

"What's wrong with Alana?" Sam had returned. Susan was on her bottom staring up at the robots in horror and when she saw that Sam was at home with them she grew even more scared.

"That woman made her cry" Bumblebee pointed at Susan.

Sam rounded on Susan "what did you do?" he was red in the face. Alana was a good kid and like his little sister, no one was going to harm her in his presence.

"Nothing" she stammered out "I-I" she was unable to finish her sentence.

"Don't come near her" Sam yelled. He was about to shout something more when Optimus' calm voice went overtop of his "enough Sam" Optimus walked over to Susan and knelt down in front of her "are you alright?"

Sure" Susan got up slowly "what- what are you?"

"We are Autobots…" the story was told to Susan, when done she turned to Alana "and where does she fit into this story.

Ironhide stepped forward with Alana "I found her, she was in a field and I saved her, after we had taken care of her for a bit we decided that we wanted to keep her"

Susan brushed back her hair "well that's all very nice and all, but you can't take care of a child, im afraid im going to have to take her from you. She needs a real human home and needs to feel the love of a family that is willing to welcome her into their home"

Ironhide shook his head "you can't take her from me"

"Why not?" Susan rounded on him.

"Because... I love her. She is mine" Ironhide said "she is like my daughter, and best friend. She is the one who I've shared the closest bond with. It would kill me if you take her away from me" he continued on "I've read on the internet what families do and we do most of that stuff, we share the good times and the bad, either way we get through it as a family, all of us here are one big family"

Susan shook her head "if she ever displays any abuse or not wanting to live with you any more she will be taken away from you, but for now, I can see she is in good hands and I will leave her with you for now"

Optimus nodded "thank you" In an after thought he said "would you mind not telling any one about this place, it might lead to problems. Don't tell them we exist either"

Susan laughed "who would believe me" with that she nodded, and headed down the path, "Im going to call for a cab" she called telling them goodbye in her own way.

Ironhide looked at Alana who was looking back at him with big eyes. "Yes Alana?"

"I love you too" she told him. She then turned to face Sam and Bumblebee "I love you guys too" then she turned to look at Optimus "your no fun but I love you as well"

"Me too" asked Ratchet hopefully

"You too" Alana said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

And so life continued, Alana continued to go to school, and even though Mrs. Winkel wasn't satisfied with Susan's report she remained silent. The bell rang signaling school was over, Alana ran out of the class room in record time. She rushed towards the gleaming black truck in the parking lot. Just before she had reached it the door swung open, Alana giggled and threw herself into the passenger seat.

"You're excited" Ironhide said. His holoform was sitting in the driver seat, he was smiling at her.

"WEEKEND!" Alana shouted, she threw her hands into the air and waved them wildly.

Ironhide laughed "Yes it is!" he began to drive away, when Alana stopped him.

"Ironhide?" Ironhide stayed where he was.

"Yes Alana?"

"Can we go to a park?" Alana asked, she had brought her hands together and had her big puppy dog eyes on. Altogether it was the perfect begging expression.

"I suppose" Ironhide said thoughtfully, "Yeah, we can go to a park"

"Yes!" Alana pumped her fist into the air.

Ironhide laughed once more and contacted Optimus, he told him that he and Alana would be a little late coming home. Then he drove on over to a big park, with swings, monkey bars, tire swings, and almost everything was climbable. Once stopped, Ironhide allowed Alana out of his cab and turned on his holoform. He walked after the running child, smiling as she first went on the swings. Well not on the swings but she began to climb up the pole holding the swings. Alana made it halfway up when she looked down and saw that ironhide was so far away. She frowned and began to climb down to him. once down she grabbed his and led him toward a swing. There she sat down and told him to push her. Ironhide did as he was told. As Alana went higher and higher she gave of little excited shouts.

"Higher!" she laughed. Ironhide laughed at her excitement, not entirely sure how she got so much entertainment out of the swings. He kept Alana swinging for a while and then went to sit on the swing next to her.

"Ironhide" Alana shouted as she swung back and forth past him. "Like this, she showed him the proper swinging technique and when Ironhide began to swing she laughed. They swung together for a few minutes but then Alana of course grew bored, so she stopped trying to make herself swing higher and waited for the swing to slow down a bit. And so while still swinging, Alana jumped off of the swing. She landed perfectly on her feet. Then with another laugh she ran towards the monkey bars. Ironhide stayed on the swing perfectly content to watch his little girl have fun. As he watched her he noticed a bright light far off in the distance, Ironhide recognized the object immediately.

"Alana" he shouted. Alana stopped climbing the monkey bars and hung, she knew from Ironhide's voice that something was wrong. "Come on we have to go" Alana did as she was told, though a little bit disappointed that she had to stop playing. Once in the cab and the seatbelt safely around Alana, Ironhide revved the engine and shot off for the base. Alana sat silently knowing that Ironhide was thinking.

_Good guy, bad guy, good guy, bad guy. _Ironhide kept thinking, after a moment of fretting, he realized that it might be a good idea to notify Optimus. So he opened a com link with Optimus.

"Sir?" he started.

"Yes Ironhide." Optimus' calm voice came through on the other end.

"We have a problem" Ironhide said. "I spotted something falling from the sky, it looked like one of our kind"

"Do you know if it is an Autobot or a Decepticon?" Optimus asked, his voice had an edge of concern.

"Negative" Ironhide said.

"Bring Alana home as fast as you can and we will try and find out who it is" Optimus cut the conversation short.

Ironhide feeling a little better, picked up speed and raced on home. While they were driving in the countryside, steadily getting closer to the base, Alana's voice pierced the silence.

"I-Ironhide" she sounded uncertain.

"Yes Alana" Ironhide asked softly.

"Is it Ok?" She asked.

"Yes everything is gonna be fine" Ironhide assured her "I'll protect you"

"Oh" Alana sounded happier "Ok" she smiled a great big smile.

Once at the base, Ironhide let Alana out and told her to go to her room. Alana did as she was told, and so off she went to her room. Alana's room was fairly big, she had a big Queen sized bed in the middle of the room. There on top of the bed were her Buzz Lightyear sheets, and her big fluffy stuffed animal, which was a Kangaroo. All around the room were LEGO sets. Alana had a strange fascination with building and taking apart things. The Autobots had found this out when she had taken apart the toaster which they had bought for her. Needless to say all electrical appliances were put up high so that she could not reach them.

After a bit the Autobot's had found out that LEGO was meant to be taken apart and built up again, so they bought her a few sets to see how she would react. Alana loved it and she soon had a huge collection of LEGO sets. Now Alana wasn't one of those people who built the sets and let them be to collect dust, she built them and then had big battles in her room, destroying all her sets. Then with out any instructions she would built the sets back up or combine different sets and make bigger and better spaceships or guns. So Alana sat on the floor happily playing with her Slave 1 Star Wars set.

Meanwhile the Autobots had gathered in the monitor room. This room had screens on the walls and large keyboards against them. This room could connect to any camera, or any computer they wanted it to connect to. On one of the screens there was a smoking pile of metal with strange symbols on it. It was in a forest and had started a small fire around it.

Ratchet was studying the screen with a focused look.

"I can't tell Optimus" he said after a moment. Optimus stayed silent for a moment. Everyone else in the room also stayed silent looking at Optimus expectantly.

"Bumblebee" Optimus finally said.

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to go pick up Sam, and bring him back here. He needs to be ready to spend a few nights here" Optimus gestured for Bumblebee to go, Bumblebee left without another word.

"Ratchet, and I will go to the crash site and figure out who he is. And if need be we will use force"

Ratchet nodded "Understood"

Ironhide made a noise "What about me sir?"

"You need to stay here and take care of Alana. She cant be left home alone" Optimus told him. "Come on Ratchet" Optimus walked out of the room followed by Ratchet. Ratchet before leaving gave him a sympathetic look, and then left.

Ironhide cracked his metallic fingers and walked out as well. Though he was disappointed he was no able to go out in the field he knew Alana had to be taken care of as well, and she mattered more than some time out of the base shooting someone. So he walked on over to Alana's room and listened for a moment. There was silence until Alana started screaming.

"Whaaaaaa!" Ironhide made a move for the door. "Sir, we're goin down! AHHHHH! BOOM!" He heard the sound of LEGO pieces being smashed to the ground and heard Alana giggle. "That's it men, the enemy has been destroyed." Ironhide smiled as Alana broke out into cheers and laughs.

And so as the sounds of LEGO pieces being shifted through sounded from inside the room Ironhide walked into the room to see Alana had separated the room into two bases. Each had their different starships, airplanes, boats, cars, and tanks. The LEGO people held onto many weapons.

"Hello Ironhide" Alana said happily, she was holding a bunch of LEGO pieces which would soon be a new vehicle to use in her up coming war.

"Hullo Alana" Ironhide found a spot in the room with out LEGO and sat down. Then his optics powered down and before the giant robot a Holoform stood. Ironhide's holoform could be considered handsome; he had dark hair, which was cut in an army style and electric blue eyes. He body had no fat anywhere he was basically pure muscle. "Can I play" he asked, his holoform sounded just like himself in robot form except for the metal edge.

"Yes" Alana waited for Ironhide to navigate his way throughout the many LEGO sets towards her. Once he was next to her she told him to begin building. The two built in silence for a few moments.

Once their machines were built they took the time to examine the others inventions. Ironhide immediately saw that Alana had built a spaceship with hidden guns along the sides, they could be seen when the hinge LEGO pieces were moved to the side. Ironhide had built a jet with a one big massive gun, just Ironhide's style. Once done assessing the others set, they got to the best part- the war. There were a lot of sound effects and shouting crashing and yelling, and in the end it was Ironhide who lost. His jet came crashing to the ground and exploded in a wave of LEGO pieces.

Alana laughed and dropped her spaceship as well and ran over and hugged Ironhide.

"Thank you for playing with me"

Ironhide laughed "you're welcome" after a moment he asked "Alana, you hungry"

Alana broke away from the hug and threw her hands high into the air "Yeah!" she shouted. Ironhide laughed and led her out of her room towards the kitchen.

Meanwhile Optimus and Ratchet were driving at top speeds down an old country road. As numerous rocks pelted their paint jobs they drew closer to the crash site. Ratchet could see the smoke, and as they drove closer and closer he grew even more nervous. It had been a few years since he had fought anyone, so he was feeling a bit rusty. Ratchet made a memo to himself to train with Ironhide.

"Use caution" Optimus warned Ratchet as they pulled to a stop. They transformed simultaneously, and in the forest the sounds of grinding metal and shifting sounds could be heard for a few short moments.

Ratchet had his saw out and ready and Optimus held a defensive stance as they headed on over to the robot. The robot was still in its travel mode, meaning it looked like a lump of metal. But as the two Autobots drew closer the metal began to shift, morphing into a robot. Optimus and Ratchet stood ready from combat, but then they noticed a familiar Autobot sign and they physically relaxed. Once the robot was fully transformed it looked around for a moment and then gave off a gasp.

"Hey, cool, what's all this green stuff" the robot picked up a tree and ripped it clean from the ground to take a good look at it. "Cool" he said after a moment.

Optimus made a sound which sounded like a cough and the robot looked at him. if he had been human he would have been blinking.

"Oh Optimus Prime!" He said after a moment "Nice to meet you sir!" he stood at attention and waited for Optimus to speak.

"Its seems you know my name but I do not know yours" Optimus said, he sounded some what amused.

"Oh! Sorry sir! My name is Fireflight of the special team Aerialbots" he saluted

"Aerialbots?" Ratchet said "I've heard of them, there are five of them and they all combine to make a robot called Superion" Ratchet walked forward and held out his hand "My name is Ratchet by the way."

Fireflight took his hand and shook it "Nice to meet you!" they let go, and Fireflight looked around eagerly.

"So" he said excitedly "What planet am I on?

"Earth" Optimus said plainly. "How did you get separated from your team?" Optimus asked.

"Well you see we were flying around when all of a sudden BAM! We get attacked by Decepticons." He waved his hands for emphasis "so ya'know there was shooting and fighting and a lot of trading of insults and then some dumb decepto-creep hits me from behind and well im out of it. And the next thing I know im here" he paused "Cool eh?" as Optimus and Ratchet were left to digest what had been said Fireflight walked on over to a rock and picked it up. "What's this?" he asked no one in particular.

Optimus made another coughing sound and grabbed Fireflight's attention, "we the Autobots on earth, have a secret base here and I would invite you to use it and stay there."

"Yah!" Fireflight said eagerly. "I'd like to stay there until the others find me"

"Also," Optimus added "We need to stay hidden, the inhabitants of this earth are not used to use and are frightened easily. I implore you to take one of the forms of their machinery and stay hidden among them"

Fireflight nodded "Uh huh sure I can do that"

Optimus gestured to Ratchet "Ratchet will give you a few choices for you to transform into."

Fireflight looked at Ratchet eagerly. Ratchet projected an image of a few vehicles and Fireflight chose almost immediately of all the images shown. He chose a nice and spiffy jet plane. It looked to be an army type and seemed to be his style. Once he scanned it he transformed and flew up high into the air.

Optimus opened a com link with him and told him to follow them. Fireflight agreed and soon they were driving and flying to the base.

Bumblebee had picked up Sam and they had returned to find that Ironhide had somehow flooded the Kitchen with popcorn, and he and Alana were sitting on the floor eating it quite happily. Bumblebee and Sam also joined them, and soon the two humans were getting hyper off the popcorn and fizzy drinks out of the fridge. As Ironhide laughed at the two humans frolicking in the popcorn, Bumblebee inched on over to him.

"Ratchet's gonna kill us for feeding Alana and Sam bad food" he muttered. Ironhide had picked up a big portion of popcorn in his robot mode and had dumped it over Alana who was trying to get the popcorn out of her shirt. Ironhide was laughing when he responded to Bumblebee.

"Who cares, its good to let loose once in a while"

"I suppose" Bumblebee sighed as he dumped popcorn over Ironhide.

"Hey" Ironhide and Bumblebee were soon throwing popcorn over each other as Sam and Alana sat down on the kitchen table to watch. Alana was laughing while tears ran down her face and Sam was cheering on Bumblebee.

"What in the All-spark is going on?" Optimus' voice came from the door way, all paused and all heads turned to look at Optimus. Ironhide and Bumblebee dropped their popcorn and stood up. Sam and Alana also felt obligated to stand up.

Then suddenly Ratchet's angry voice came as well "what sort of crap have you been feeding Alana and Sam!?" he shouted.

"It's good tasting crap" Ironhide mumbled. Bumblebee nodded in agreement with Ironhide.

"I don't care if it tastes good" Ratchet began to trudge through the popcorn towards the two bots. "We have to keep them healthy." He snarled.

"Ratchet!" Alana shouted. Ratchet turned to see Alana doing jumping jacks. "I'm healthy, see"

Ratchet shook his head "that's not the point Alana." He watched as Sam began to do push ups.

"I'm healthy too" he shouted.

Ratchet turned to look at Bumblebee and Ironhide who were staring at the humans happily, but when they saw Ratchets stare they stopped smiling and put on a serious face. He was about to scold them when a new voice came in "What are those pinky things?" everyone's head turned to look at a red and beige robot, his face was hidden by a protective mask.

"Uh, who is this…?" Ironhide asked, he was leaning over to get a good look at the robot .

Optimus smiled "Everyone this is Fireflight" everyone said 'hello and then Optimus began the Introductions to Fireflight, once all of the Autobots had been introduced they came to the humans. "… and this is Alana" he gestured towards her "…and Sam"

Fireflight crouched before them "so these are the inhabitants of earth"

"They cal themselves humans" Ratchet told him.

"Humans, eh? They're cute" Fireflight held out his hand for Alana to climb on, she looked at ease with him.

Sam on the other hand was outraged "Cute!" he cried "Any word but cute! I mean I'm cool" he pulled a supposed cool pose "and awesome" another pose.

Fireflight began to laugh "and they're funny too"

Optimus started to talk "he is a new member but I expect you to treat him kindly"

"Yes sir!" everyone said including Alana. With a happy nod Optimus walked off.

"Say little human" Fireflight asked, it sounded like he was excited.

"Yah?" Alana stared up at him with big eyes.

"Can you tell me what you are made up of?" Fireflight asked the little girl.

"Uhhhhh" Alana's eyes went bigger, and she was frowning obviously thinking quite hard "well, I think we are made up of humanness, or something like that. I dunno" she lifted up her hands.

"Oh." Fireflight sounded somewhat disappointed. "You! Larger human"

"Me?" Sam pointed to himself.

"Yeah, can you tell me what humans are made up of" Fireflight asked, there was a bit of hope in his voice.

"Uh, not really, I think we are mostly water" said Sam "Or at least that is what I remember from my science classes"

"Water?" Fireflight tilted his head and watched as Alana began to poke herself.

"I don't feel like water" she said.

Ratchet sighed "humans are mostly 35 liters of water, 25 kilograms of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kilograms of lime, 800 grams of prosperous, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon and a little bit of 15 other elements. "

After that Sam had one of those dot, dot, dot looks and Alana had grown tired during the whole list and had sat down in Fireflight's hand and was biting her nails. Fireflight on the other hand seemed to understand it all and turned his head back to the human in his hand.

"Fascinating" he muttered. Then suddenly he stood up. Alana had to hold onto his finger to keep herself upright.

"Hey!" she shouted.

"Be careful with her!" Ironhide and Ratchet snapped together. Not even seconds later Alana was snatched out of Fireflight's hand and held safely in Ratchet's hand.

Fireflight tilted his head as he looked at Alana "so humans are fragile… not good, they won't be protected when the decepticons attack."

"What do you mean when the decepticons attack?" asked Bumblebee, he had picked up Sam and was placing him on his shoulder.

"Oh did I not tell you?" Fireflight said cheerfully. "We gained Info from one of the decepticons and we learned that they are planning to attack earth."

"WHAT!" everyone shouted.

"Yeah, good thing I told you right!" Fireflight gave them a thumbs up.

"Do you know where they are attacking?" Ironhide asked trying his best to keep calm.

"Yeah we got that info too" Fireflight seemed please with himself. Then he picked up the toaster and examined it closely. "What does this do?"

"Oh I know!" Said Alana. She threw up her hand and pointed it to herself "I can tell you" she made a move to get off Ironhide but his other hand stopped her.

When he spoke it sounded like he was under great strain "tell us where the decepticons are attacking"

Fireflight started to snap his fingers "uhnmm, well I think it was some place called Grande Cache" he then looked at Alana "so tell me little human what does this contraption do?"

"Well you see-" she was cut off by Ironhide putting her down on the floor, she watched as he and Ratchet ran out of the room followed closely by Sam and Bumblebee. She then looked back at Fireflight and held up her hands showing that she wanted to be picked up. Fireflight did as she had silently asked and once upon her hand he gave her the toaster. "Ok, first you must plug it in"

"Maybe I should put you down so that you can show me" Fireflight suggested.

Alana shrugged "sure" and so she was put down and she began to demonstrate the proper uses of a toaster.

It took a few moments for Alana to explain that they had to put bread into the toaster and when she pressed the button for the toasting process to begin the waited. When the toast popped out Alana took it and showed it to him.

"That's amazing!" he exclaimed. "But…" he lifted up the toaster ripping the plug and the outlet clean from the wall. "Where does the bread go?" she looked down the small slot of the toaster and saw no bread.

Alana thought for a moment and shrugged "I dunno where the bread goes" she told him honestly. "Maybe we should take it apart to find out where the bread goes."

"Alright!" Fireflight said enthusiastically. He activated his holoform, one that Ratchet had given to him. His holoform was a man in cameo pants and a dark brown t-shirt. He had a nice face with shaggy blond hair. The two then sat down around the table and began the figure out where the bread goes mission.

Meanwhile the Autobots were discussing a serious problem.

"How could he not have told us!" Ironhide raged.

"He's just a bit distracted, that's all" Ratchet defended Fireflight.

"He has put a lot of people in danger, we need to get there! We need to be prepared. He could have told us sooner!" Ironhide shouted.

"Exactly" came Optimus' voice, he was standing among them waiting for them to quite down. "we will go there, and set up a base and defend there"

"what about Alana and I" asked Sam.

"You will need to come with us" said Optimus "we cant protect you and them any other way"

"Alright" Sam nodded "just give me an hour to get my things and tell my parents that I'll be away for a while" Optimus nodded and Sam and Bumblebee left.

"Ironhide and Ratchet I need you two to get Alana's things ready and get her prepared" the two bots nodded and walked out, and Optimus was left by himself for a bit.

Ironhide and Ratchet walked in the Kitchen to see the toaster spread out all over the table and Alana and Fireflight shaking their heads.

"It makes no sense" Fireflight muttered. Alana nodded as she held a wet cloth to her hand.

"Alana!" Ironhide ran up to the small girl and picked her up, "What happened to your hand?"

"Oh this?" she lifted the cloth and Ironhide saw a small red patch of charred skin "Burnt it…"

Ironhide was speechless for a moment, he would have expected his little girl to be crying from such a burn but it was apparent he was wrong. "Uh, how did you burn your hand?" Ironhide asked.

"She burnt it while we were taking apart the toaster" Fireflight said, he hadn't bother to look up at Alana or Ironhide yet.

"And why are you taking apart the toaster?" Ratchet asked. He had his hand crossed.

"Well…" Fireflight seemed hesitant.

Alana finished for him "We were trying to figure out where the bread goes?"

Ironhide and Ratchet simultaneously said "Huh?"

The two then went through the long process of explaining the who bread toast switch which made Ratchet laugh.

Ironhide shook his head and started to walk out the door while holding Alana.

"Where are we going Ironhide?" Alana asked, her eyes were once again big.

"We are going to pack" Ironhide said simply.

"Oh… why?"

"Because we are going on a trip"

"Oh…"


	6. Chapter 6

Ironhide brought Alana to her room along with Ratchet and together they began to pack for a long trip. Fortunately Alana had no questions for them as of now, but once they had started driving they were sure she was going have a lot. Ironhide and Ratchet had taken over the process of packing the essentials such as clothes, bath things and other such things, where as Alana had taken over the process of bringing what she thought was essentials. These essentials being LEGO and toys. It took them half an hour to pack and another half hour for them to convince Alana that she didn't need to bring her bed. Int eh end she settled for bringing her sheets and stuffy. During this time Sam had done a lot of packing as well and he greeted them in the hallway.

It seemed that everyone was ready to depart. Fireflight was in his alt. mode and it looked very cool to Alana , she rushed on over to the giant jet and tried to climb its smooth surface. She failed a few times and then sat down in a huff. Ironhide walked on over to the small girl carrying all her things.

"Alana…" he said sternly, he had no intention of letting her fly with Fireflight. "Come help" he gestured for her to follow him and she did as she was told. Ironhide then placed her things and some of Sam's things on the ground and transformed. The truck bed opened up and Alana got the drift that she was to begin loading the things into the back. She did as she was silently instructed with the help of Sam and soon they were ready to go.

Alana climbed into the back seat of Ironhide with her blanket and a few Lego sets. She then laid out her blanket and put the Lego sets on top of it. Once she was seated the seat belt made its way around her shoulders and down to her waist. She tugged at it and frowned.

"Safety" Ironhide reminded Alana. She stuck out her tongue which told him 'screw safety' but he would not let her go. Alana let out another huff but dealt with it all the same. The Autobots wasted no time in leaving their base and left for their new destination.

They had been driving for less than five minutes when Alana posed the first question.

"Where are we going?"

Ironhide let out a big mechanical sigh "to the town of –"

"Oh" Alana sat back. "Why?"

"Because that's where our new home is" Ironhide said, Ratchet could answer questions better than he could.

"Oh" she said again "Why is our home there?"

"because we need to protect the humans there" Ironhide said. He suddenly felt as if he were being interrogated, Alana could make a kick-ass police officer he thought.

"oh," she said once more, "Is it a big home?"

"Uh," Ironhide thought for a moment and then pulled up the blueprints for the next base, unknown to Alana they had yet to build the base. But in reference to her question it was true that the new base was to be digger than the one before. This was to accommodate new comers to earth.

"Yes it is a bigger home"

"Ok!" she seemed to be done with questions and was beginning to settle in.

Sam on the other hand was very restless, his parents had not been home when he had needed to leave so they were naturally clueless, and he was on his phone trying to call them. The of course had to make matters worse by not answering. In the end he got them on the phone and had to endure a hysterical mother and father yelling at him via the phone. Once he had hung up Sam was quite deaf in one ear but he felt better.

They drove on for quite a while, all were silent minding their own business focusing on getting to their destination. Alana played with her Lego while Sam searched videos on Bee's internet service. They had been driving for quite a while when Ironhide sensed a sudden strain in the background he let his eyes drift from the road to peek in the back. There he saw Alana gripping the bottoms of her shorts and crossing her legs. She had the a strange look on her face, her mouth was a tight line and her eyes were screwed shut.

Ironhide let out a laugh, his little girl was comical, quickly he opened up a com link between him and Optimus "Sir, I think we need a pit stop"

He heard Optimus sigh "Alright"

The Autobots pulled into a gas station and watched as Alana ran for the bathroom, naturally all were amused. Sam followed after her at a more leisurely pace, he had been smart and had gone before the trip, but still a pit stop couldn't hurt. Once they were done they exited the Gas station and walked on over to Optimus to everyone's surprise. Sam held out his hands in a begging fashion and Alana got down on her knees.

"Optimus I'm hungry!" Alana whined.

"Can we have some money for the food?" Sam asked.

Optimus was about to answer when Ratchet's Holoform stepped into sight. "I'll pay Optimus" the two humans cheered and raced back to the Gas station where there snacks and drinks waiting. Ratchet kept a hand on Alana's shoulder and steered her away from the chocolate bars but there was nothing stopping the small girl from getting a slushie. The swirling liquid was something that Alana could deny herself no more. She dragged Ratchet on over and looked over her shoulder and made eye contact. Ratchet knew immediately what she wanted and shook his head.

"Alana that stuff is not healthy for you" he was about to walk away when Alana gave him the eyes, they were big and were close to watering.

"But I WANT the slushie!" she practically shouted.

"Nut Alana you know that it's not good for you" Ratchet knelt down and took a hold of her shoulders.

"But it tastes good" Alana pouted "just this once?" she batted her eyelashes at him. "Pwease!"

Ratchet sighed "fine…" he muttered. Since Alana was too small to reach the slush machine she directed Ratchet in what flavors she wanted. In the end she had a swirling mass of orange brown and blue. Ratchet stared at it disgusted and was thankful he didn't have to drink it. Once Alana was holding her slushie they walked on over to the sandwiches and bought a few for her and Sam. Sam on the other hand had thought it wise to get candy and a root-beer. Ratchet looked at his selection of food and shook his head. "Your killing yourself" he told Sam.

Sam shrugged "death by candy is a death I wouldn't mind" Ratchet muttered but bought the food items anyways. Then once everyone was seated with their food and drinks did then the Autobots continue on their quest.

Fireflight was far ahead of the group and would get to the area the base was to built in, in a day. He was to start the construction while the ground based Autobots got there later on.

So as the convoy continued from the Gas station Alana sat in Ironhide's front seat and was preparing to enjoy her slushie. Of course being little she wanted to consume as much of it as possible in one big gulp, so she did just that and after a moment she was gripping her head in pain.

"ooooooohhhh" she moaned.

Ironhide laughed at her "Brain freeze!" he said in a sing song voice. Once she had recovered from that ordeal Alana tried once more to get as much of the drink down as possible and was once more rewarded with a brain freeze.

"Oooooooohhhh" she gripped her head and closed her eyes tight. This made Ironhide laugh once more. It took two tried for Alana to figure out that whenever she had that much of an intake of the slushie she was sure to get a brain freeze, so her child like mind went to work in trying to figure out a way to drink that much while not getting a brain freeze. In the end she came up with an idea. Ironhide was bored driving down the straight road so he took his eyes off the road to watch his girl.

She had placed down her slushie in the cup holder and was taking off her sweater. Then she wrapped the sweater around her head in a turban style, once she knew it was secure she swooped up the drink and took a big gulp.

"That's not going to work" Ironhide told her. Alana took a big gulp and stayed silent for a moment. "Wait, maybe it does wo-"

"Ooooohhhhhh" Alana moaned as a another brain freeze took over her.

"Never mind" Ironhide said, Alana could tell he was smiling. She continued to drink her slushie but this time in smaller sips.

They drove on into the night not stopping unless it was for human needs. They stopped at around one in the morning to allow the humans some sleep in a motel they had found. Alana and Sam shared a room and slept in the same bed, for there was nothing else available. Sam was eagle armed across the bed while Alana was curled up in her usual fashion at the bottom of the bed.


	7. Chapter 7

When morning came Alana woke at her usual early time, she had a schedule for waking up and no matter what time she went to bed she had to get up at seven in the morning. So she fell out of bed and got dressed as were her usual routine. Once dressed, she went outside and walked on over to the group of cars which were the Autobots. All were in stasis and couldn't be bothered by the arrival of the small girl.

Alana was bored so she went over to the yellow Camaro and gave it a swift kick in the bumper. Bumblebee's entire body jerked as he was brought out of stasis.

"Huh?" when he saw Alana he sighed "What is it Alana?" he asked.

Alana smiled at him and leaned forward "Wanna go exploring with me?" she asked.

"Not now, Alana" Bee groaned.

Alana pouted but then she shrugged "Fine, I'll explore by myself" she said.

She was beginning to walk off when Bumblebee's holoform caught up with her "Only for a little while" he told her. Alana giggled and led him to the back of the motel which was backing against a forest. Alana took Bumblebee's hand and led him into the dense forest. Its was easy going for a while but then Alana grew bored from just walking and decided to climb a tree. Bumblebee watched her apprehensively, he poised and ready to catch her is she fell.

Alana did indeed fall but Bee caught her and when he turned her around in his arms she laughed and thanked him for catching her. From her fall she had gained a pretty bad scratch on her cheek which was now bleeding. Bumblebee's shoulders slumped, Ratchet was gonna kill him.

Alana wanted to explore more but with her scratch bleeding more than it should have Bumblebee picked her up and walked her back to the motel.

"But I'm fine Bumblebee I swear!" she tried to push away from him but it was no use, a little girl wasn't going to overpower and Autobot. Once they were out in the open Bumblebee took his sweet time in walking on over to Ratchet. Once he had reached the yellow hummer Bumblebee silently contacted him and Ratchet woke.

"Wazgoinon?" he asked sleepily.

"Uh Alana hurt herself" those four little words brought Ratchet right out of his sleepy state. He activated his holoform and bent down so that he could see the damage done.

"Alana what did you do now?" he asked as he turned her head in his hands so that he could have a better look.

"Bumblebee and me went exploring" Alana told him proudly.

"Is that so…" Ratchet gave Bumblebee a look that could kill "well I'll deal with him later" Bumblebee shuddered but did nothing more. "Well Alana" Ratchet said, his face was grave "You need stitches"

"oh" Alana said "What's stitches?"

Ratchet paused; he was trying to figure out a way how to tell her truthfully with out freaking the small girl out. "Stitches is a piece of string that will fix your cut." He said after a moment.

"Ok!" Ratchet took her and led her to the back of the recue hummer; Ratchet had opened his back doors and then had placed Alana in the back. Her feet dangled off the edge as she waited happily.

Ratchet got out the needed supplies and was sterilizing the needle when Alana popped the dreaded question.

"Will it hurt?" she asked.

"Uh… a little" Ratchet said.

"Oh…" Alana didn't really like pain when she knew it was coming.

"I'll be gentle" Ratchet promised her.

"Ok" Alana closed her eyes just as Ratchet began. During the whole process Bumblebee had come up next to Alana and had grabbed her hand which she was currently squeezing with all her might. He knew it hurt and he didn't like the fact that he had been the cause of her hurt but he felt happy that she hadn't let go of his hand.

Ratchet was done a few moments later, Alana had ten stitches and once the pain was over she smiled.

Alana turned to Ratchet "Can I see?" she asked. Ratchet shrugged and brought out a mirror, Alana admired herself for a few moments and laughed "That looks so cool!" she shouted pointing to herself. And before anyone could stop her Alana ran off back into the motel room to go and show off hr new stitches to Sam.

Sam was unlike Alana when it came to mornings, he hated them and would normally sleep right on through them, but when Alana had something to say or she was excited about something there was no stopping her from waking up Sam. She began to jump up and down on the bed in excitement and when Sam didn't respond she jumped on him instead.

"What?" Sam groaned.

"Sam, Sam, Sam!" Alana laughed "Guess what" she sat down on his chest and pulled on his shirt collar so that he would have to look at her. She leaned in close and said "I got stitches!"

It was too early for Sam to have a reaction to that so he waved her away and mumbled "That's nice Alana" Alana frowned at him for a moment but then shrugged, he knew now and she had others to tell.

She walked back out of the motel room and saw Ratchet yelling at Bumblebee, but since this was a common sight she did not mind and paid it not attention. Her next target was Ironhide, He sat parked in the middle of the parking lot and had a nice warm sunbeam on him. It was a very peaceful stasis until… Alana came along, she woke him up just like she had done with Ratchet- and that was a short but hard kick to the bumper.

"Hey!" Ironhide shouted.

"Moring!" Alana laughed.

"Oh hey" Ironhide looked at his little girl and had he been in his robot mode he would have frowned "What happened to your face?"

"Oh this?" Alana looked excited "I got stitches!" she sang.

"Oh really?" Ironhide said.

"Yup, Bumblebee and I were exploring and I fell out of a tree and Bumblebee caught me!" Alana waved her hands wildly.

"And I suppose the yelling in the background is Ratchet telling Bumblebee off" Ironhide said.

Alana looked at the cowering Bumblebee and Ratchet who had gotten a bit red in the face "Yup!" she nodded happily.

Ironhide let out a sound which sounded like a sigh "Then I'm not needed" he said. And that was the last thing he said before he slipped into stasis once more.

Alana then walked on over to Optimus the last person she had to notify about her new injury.

She was pulling back her leg to kick him when Optimus' cool voice stopped her, "Don't even think about it Alana" Alana pouted. "What is it?" Optimus asked kindly.

"I got stitches" Alana said proudly, she then went ton to explain what happened and the end she had actually managed to get Optimus to laugh. Which was a rare thing but Alana seemed to have a knack for getting the big bot to smile. Then suddenly Alana held onto her stomach.

"Alana?" Optimus said her name questioningly.

"I'm hungry" the small girl sat down.

Optimus activated his holoform, walked over and picked her up. "Now that just won't do" he said as he cradled the girl to his chest.

Alana nodded "no sir" she said. She hadn't understood him but she agreed any way. Optimus walked the small girl into the motel and then they sat together in the little restaurant. There Alana ordered food and Optimus watched as she ate her fill. Once she was done he ushered her towards her room and told her to go and brush her teeth. Alana paused for a moment remembering a scene off a movie she and Sam had been watching, where a man had bought a woman food and after she had given him a kiss on the cheek. Alana thought that all that Optimus had done fit into the criteria of gaining a kiss so before she went to her room she motioned for him to lean down and then planted a stick maple syrup kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for breakfast." She said.

Optimus smiled "Your welcome Alana" he gave her head a small pat and then pushed her gently in the direction of her room.

Alana and Sam were soon once again ready to go, they piled into the cars and after paying for the rooms they once more headed off.

Alana this time had opted to ride with Ratchet, she sat in the front seat playing with her LEGO. Ratchet would sometimes give her ideas of suggestions for her creations and she would accept and reject some.

Sam on the other hand was sleeping, Alana had ruined his peaceful sleep with the news of stitches and now he was trying to catch up on his lost sleep. And so went on the day driving quickly across the country side until finally late in the night they had reached the base. Alana had fallen asleep inside of Ratchet and was taken out gently by Ironhide, Sam too was feeling tired and once the humans were put on a big mattress that was protected from the weather by some tarp did the two humans rest peacefully.

The rest of the Autobots checked to see how much Fireflight had done, and for a distracted Mech he had done quite a bit. Laid foundation and had put up some walls, stealth beam coding was all set up too. The next morning the Autobots would get into action and continue building but for now, all any one wanted was rest.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning came early for everyone. Optimus had put an alarm on so that everyone would be up and ready to build. The alarm came at around six thirty and the Autobots all groaned but got up. They waited for the humans to emerge from their makeshift tent but when no one seemed to be coming out the tent was ripped from the ground and the humans were exposed to the cool morning air. Sam suffered most for he had only worn his boxers to bed where as Alana had chosen her warmest PJ's.

Ironhide leaned down and picked up Alana while Sam was picked up by Bumblebee. The humans were then gently poked awake. Alana frowned as she stared into the optics of Ironhide.

"Good morning Alana" Ironhide was trying to sound cheerful but like Alana he had not gotten enough rest.

"Sleepy" Alana said. She was trying to lie back down in his hand but he would not let her.

"Go get changed Alana, we have a busy day today" Ironhide set her down on the ground and Ratchet handed her some clean clothes. Alana took the clothes and trudged off into the forest. She was grumbling and groaning but she did as Ironhide had asked her. When she came back the Autobots were already starting with the building. They were lifting up heavy beams and placing them in the ground.

Ratchet stopped his building for a moment and pointed to a small rock that had some food on it. "Eat your breakfast Alana" he told her. Alana upon seeing food gave him a big smile and rushed towards it. once done eating her fill she walked on over to Optimus and saluted him like she had seen Ironhide and Ratchet do.

Optimus laughed and knelt down "Alana, I have a job for you" he told her.

"Ok!" Alana waited for him to relay what she was supposed to do.

"See that area on the inside of those metal beams over there" optimus pointed to the spot where the main part of the base was. Fireflight had outlined it with the metal beams.

"Yup I see it" Alana nodded.

"Well I need you to help Sam clear that area" Optimus told her. "Put the big rocks on the outside of the metal beams and try and get most of the grass out of there" he told her.

"Ok!" Alana gave him another salute and rushed off to start her job. Optimus watched after her for a moment and then once seeing she knew what to do he continued with his own.

Sam was already hauling some big rocks away when Alana came over and began to help him. She picked up a big on and waddled it over to the small pile that Sam was creating. She threw the rock onto the pile and so continued the process of clearing the area. Occasionally the humans would come across a rock that they could not pick up and Fireflight would lift the rock and toss it away. It took a few hours for the humans to declare the part they were working on rock free so they then began to tear the grass from the ground. They had little buckets and were filling them.

This took another few good hours but Alana and Sam kept at it. Soon Alana and Sam were covered in dirt and sweat but they were done. Optimus went over and congratulated them. He picked them up and dropped them off in a different part of the base and told them to do the same thing. Sam groaned but Alana smiled and once more saluted them.

The part of the base that the humans had cleared was then given to Fireflight he stamped the area level with his feet and with some cement that Ratchet had left for a for a bit to get, he began to mix and then poured so that the Autobots had a floor. Once the floor was done, the Autobots were able to build around it while the cement settled.

The humans were able to complete three parts of the base that the Autobots considered most important. Cement was poured and walls were put up. And by the end of the day a base looked as if it was starting to form. Sam and Alana were quite proud of themselves, they had done quite a bit of work and were pleased. Unfortunately there was no stream near them so they had no way of washing off the dirt and grime of the days work.

Sam flopped down on his sleeping bag sending up a cloud of dust. Alana did much the same thing. And within moments the two humans were asleep. Fireflight happened to be walking past them when he heard a soft snoring. On normal circumstances he would have woken Sam up to ask him what noise he was making but then he knew about the lack of stamina most humans had, he had been amazed the humans had made it through the whole day. So he stopped by them and with gentle fingers he began to cover them up with a blanket. Once he had covered up the two humans with a warm blanket he quietly stepped away.

The other Autobots were also pleased with the amount of work they had gotten done, they figured if they put in the same effort for the next two days they would have a complete base. They then would have a fourth day to finish it and create sensors and other such defensive things. Then all that was left to do was wait for the Decepticon attack.

The next morning the Autobots woke up the humans and they continued their work. They repeated what they were supposed to do for two more days until the Autobots finally deemed they had a respectable base.

Alana and Sam were in a desperate need for a shower by they end of three days. Alana's hair had gone a shade darker because of the dirt. Not to mention the smell. The Autobots were also in a great need for a clean up. So it was decided that the humans would borrow the showers at the pool in town to clean up while the Autobots would go through a car was. Fireflight was promised a clean down form Sam and Alana, seeing that he could not go through a car wash.

And so everyone was once again clean, along with Fireflight, the humans had a grand time washing him down. Alana was able to sit for the first time in a plane and she felt quite pleased with herself.

Then came time to furnish the Autobot base, Alana was given her own room right in-between Ratchet's med lab and Ironhide's room. Right across from her room was the lounge. Alana's room had been furnished with just the bare essentials for the moment. She had a bed covered with her Buzz Lightyear sheets. She had a bathroom and a desk, her LEGO was put in a small corner in the room. Alana was quite pleased with room it was bigger than the last and she couldn't wait to have a battle in this room.

Sam's room had and attachment to Bumblebee's and he also had the bare essentials.

Ratchet was putting his tools away in the med lab when Alana came in, he gave her a small glance but then went back to work. Alana walked on over to his foot and stopped, she looked up at Ratchet and held up her hands, silently asking to be picked up. Ratchet gave off a sound which sounded much like a human sigh, he complied and picked up Alana. She giggled and he smiled. Ratchet put the small girl on his shoulder and continued on with his task.

Alana then cleared her throat, Ratchet paused in his work and smiled. "Is there something you want to ask me?" he said.

"Yes" Alana said "am I going to school" Alana asked.

"Yes you are" Ratchet let off a laugh when he heard Alana groan. "Its not so bad Alana" he said

"Yes it is!" Alana pouted.

"Ah come on, you'll be starting grade one soon, it'll be fun" Ratchet promised her.

"I suppose" Alana sighed. Ratchet took her off his shoulder and set her on the counter top.

He kneeled down so that he was eye level with her "do you wanna take a little trip into town?" he asked.

"Where are we going?" Alana asked.

"Oh I don't know, maybe stopping to look at your school, signing you up and maybe on the way back if I find an ice-cream shop…" Ratchet smiled as Alana's eyes went big at the word ice-cream.

"Ok!" she nodded her head enthusiastically, she then jumped onto the outstretched hand Ratchet offered and they began to walk out. Just exiting the Med lab Ironhide walked into view and gave them a smile.

"Where are you guys going?" he asked.

"Ice-cream!" Alana shouted and Ratchet shrugged.

"We were also going to go and sign her up at her school" Ratchet said.

"Can I come?" Ironhide asked. Ratchet shrugged and Alana nodded.

"You can get ice-cream too!" she said. The three then began to walk out.

"Ratchet to Optimus" Ratchet was going to notify Optimus where they were going.

"Optimus here" Optimus' calm voice came through the com link.

"Ironhide and I are going to take Alana to look at her new school and sign her up. So we will be gone for a while" Ratchet said.

"Wait for me." Optimus said "I want to see her school too"

Ratchet paused and laughed "We will be waiting outside."

Optimus was rushing to get outside when suddenly Bumblebee and Sam walked in front of him.

He stopped just in time and was about to move around the two when Bumblebee asked "where are you going sir?"

Optimus stopped and turned to look at Bumblebee "I'm going with Ratchet and Ironhide to show Alana her new school."

"Oh can we come to sir!" Sam asked. Bumblebee nodded, he also wanted to see where Alana was going to school.

Optimus smiled "Sure" the three then walked out the meet the others who were waiting outside.

Ratchet looked at the group surrounding him and sniggered "well Alana, it seems everyone wants to see where you are going to school"

Alana looked up at Ratchet with big eyes "Is that bad?" she asked.

"No Alana, Its good" Optimus had heard her question and walked up so that he was standing next to Ratchet. Alana tilted her head and looked up at him. "It means that everyone here cares about you" Optimus told her.

"Ohhh" Alana said not really understanding it all, but Optimus gave her a straight answer and she wasn't going to question him.

"Well I wanna see her school so lets get going" Ironhide said. Everyone agreed and so the all transformed and sped off towards Alana's school.

Alana's school was a newer looking school, it was fairly large and held pre-school up to grade six. Its entrance was a large arch with great big wooden doors. The Autobots, parked in its small parking lot and activated their holoforms. Alana got out and Ratchet walked on over to her and she grabbed his hand.

"Its big" she whispered to him nervously.

Ratchet knelt down in front of Alana and gave her a smile "Hey Alana come on! I'm always going to be there to protect you, and I wont let anything hurt you I promise." He told her.

Ironhide took Alana's other hand and gave it a squeeze "you can count on us Alana" he told her.

Optimus also came up and put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair "we will always be there"

"Because that's what friends do" Sam said, he gave her a smile.

"Your one of us Alana, don't ever doubt that" Bumblebee told her.

Alana nodded "Ok" she said. the Autobots smiled and while holding Ironhide and Ratchet's hand she began to walk in.

It was just the beginning of summer so there were a few receptionists and teachers but no students. The Autobots and two humans walked into the main office and when the receptionist saw the amount of men in her office she gave off a big smile, they were very handsome men.

"Hello what can I do for you?" she asked them giving them a big smile.

Optimus stepped forward taking on his usual role as leader "Hello, we would like to add another student to your grade one class for next year."

"Really? Where's the kid" the receptionist looked among the mass of men and found a small little girl with big eyes staring at her. "Whose the father?" she asked.

Ironhide didn't hesitate "I am" he stepped forward letting go of Alana's hand.

"Well I'm gonna need you to fill out these forms" she handed him a few forms "and then she'll be ready to join us next year"

Ironhide took the forms and smiled "thank you" he said.

"No problem" she receptionist smiled at him.

Ironhide held up the forms "We'll be back soon" he told her. She nodded and the whole group filed out of the office and went outside. There they found a picnic table and sat at it. Alana sat on Optimus' lap and everyone leaned in close to here all of the things that Ironhide had to fill out.

"Student name" Ironhide read out loud. Then he searched for a pen, when it was found out no one had a writing utensil Bumblebee had to race inside and grab one. Once they did have a pen was then the first question of many answered. Ironhide wrote down Alana's name and looked at the next question "Date of birth" he looked up at the others for help.

The Autobots had never really celebrated Alana;s birthday, she had never been to a birthday party and the Autobots didn't know when she was born.

"How about the day we got her" Sam said. "That could be her date of birth.

Alana tilted her head backwards so that she was looking at Optimus' chin "What is birth?" she asked.

Optimus frowned "It's when a certain human celebrates the day he or she was brought into this earth"

"Oh" Alana said. "When is my birth?" she asked.

Ironhide thought for a moment looking back through his memory banks "April 22nd that'll be your birthday." He said.

"Ok" Alana shrugged, she didn't really understand the significance of a birthday so it didn't really matter to her whether she had one or not.

"Next one" Ironhide said "Fathers name" he looked up, "do I use my own name or a fake one?" he asked.

"Use a fake one" Ratchet advised "We should all have fake identities made" he added.

"What should my name be?" Ironhide asked.

Alana put up her hand and Ironhide looked at her bemused "Yes Alana?"

"You told Mrs. Winkel your name was Rick" she told him.

"Oh yeah" Ironhide thought for a moment "That'll work" he shrugged and wrote down his name.

"Mother's name" Ironhide read, he looked up once more for help.

"Mother?" Alana asked looking up at Optimus once more.

Optimus looked over to Ratchet for help and he too looked as if he was having difficulties coming up with an answer to that one. "Alana," Ratchet said her name to get her attention. "You know when we were talking about families?"

"Oh! They have last names just like us!" she nodded

"Yes, well in the family group there is a mother, she is a female human who takes care of the rest of the family" Ratchet said.

"But we don't have a mother… are we still a family?" Alana asked.

"Let me continue" Ratchet said and Alana remained silent. "But in some occasions the families have lost there mother or father but they can still be a family" Ratchet said.

"I don't understand" Alana said.

"Familes are held together by love and not who is in the family group, because all of us love you and you love all of us that holds us together as a family" Ratchet said.

Alana looked as if she understood "so even though we don't have a mother we are still a family…" she looked up at Ratchet to see if what she said was correct.

Ratchet nodded and smiled "Exactly." He told her

"Ohhh ok" Alana nodded once more pleased with her ability to understand family matters.

"But we need to put down a name" Ironhide said.

"Ah great" Ratchet muttered "another name"

"How about Helen?" Bumblebee asked, his eyes were closed and the others knew he was doing an internet search.

"Meh" Ironhide said "whatever" he wrote down Bumblebee's suggestion.

"Address… uh" Ironhide stared at the piece of paper for quite a while "do we even have an address?"

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, they weren't sure, "I suppose we can make up a mailing address and pick up all our mail from there" Bumblebee said. Sam nodded in agreement with him.

"That might work" Optimus also agreed.

"What address though?" Ratchet asked.

The Autobots all closed their eyes for a moment and Alana waited patiently for them to finish their internet search.

"Ah I got one!" Optimus said after a moment, his eyes opened and he relayed the address over to Ironhide who write it down.

And so went on the questions until they finally had the entire thing finished. Ironhide looked quite pleased with their ability to forge things. They walked back into the building and handed the papers over to the receptionist she gave them a look over and smiled towards Alana.

"Welcome aboard hon'" she gave Alana a wink and Alana gave her a small smile. She turned back to Ironhide and nodded "Your all set" she put the papers into a folder and placed it on her desk.

"Thank you" Ironhide smiled he then turned to Alana and the rest of the group. "I suppose we did promise to take Alana for ice-cream" he said.

"Ice-cream!" Alana cheered. She gave him a big smile and then ran for the door. The Autobots followed after her. She ran over to Bumblebee and pulled on the back door.

"Alana!" Ironhide called "Why not ride with me?"

"Bumblebee drives faster" Alana told him getting into the back seat. Sam smiled and gave Ironhide a small wave.

"See ya!" he called.

Bumblebee's holoform disappeared and his engine started. He revved his engine and then flew out of the parking lot.

Ironhide watched Bumblebee drive away and he muttered "Damn speedster." His holoform also disappeared as did the other Autobot's. Soon the mass of cars was gone form the school and headed towards the nearest ice-cream shop.

Once there Optimus had to restrain Alana by lifting her up and carrying her into the store where he did not let go of her until they were seated with their ice-creams. They ate happily, the Autobots enjoyed human food just as much as humans did themselves. Alana was done her ice-cream in record time and watched with envy as Optimus still had some left. Optimus sighed and allowed her a bite of his ice-cream which she gladly took with a small thank you.

Once done their ice-creams the Autobots and humans headed back to the base where Fireflight was ripping out his tenth tree trying to figure out hw they worked. He had not noticed their lack of presence and had not noticed their arrival. Sam gave him a bit of a kick which he did not notice either.

Alana headed on into the base where she knew her LEGO was waiting. She wanted to have a giant war with her sets. The rest of the Autobots took the rest of the day to set up the TV and other such entertainment devices.

Finally their base was starting to feel like a home.


	9. Chapter 9

The Autobot base was fully up and running by the time Alana had to go to school. When the morning came for the first day of school, Alana had gotten up earlier than expected and had gotten dressed by herself. She wore a loose pair of sneakers and her t-shirt was a little too big for her small body but her shorts which were cameo style fit her perfectly. Ironhide had proudly called her his little army girl and she had given him a big smile. Alana had also wanted to do something with her hair, it was an important day and she wanted to look pretty for her first day of school so she opted for her brown hair to be put into two little braids at the side of her head. Alana unfortunately did not know how to do braids so she forced the battle hardened Ironhide to show her how. To Ironhide's embarrassment Ratchet had come in the exact moment he had started braiding Alana's hair. The Mech gave out a shout of laughter and doubled over.

But he later paid the price for laughing at Ironhide because Alana forced him to do the other braid on the other side of her head. Then once her physical appearance was deemed acceptable by herself Alana then began lunch preparations. Since this was such a big day she wanted to make lunch herself rather than Ratchet doing it for her. And so under Ratchets guidance she managed to make a respectable lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich, a candy bar and an orange juice.

She then packed her lunch into her school supplies filled backpack and declared herself ready for departure to school, only to find out that she still had an hour to wait for school to begin.

Sam was also up and about at the early hours that Alana was up at, but for an entirely different reason- he was job hunting. Being just out of high school Sam decided to get a job so that he could help the Autobots and also gain a bit of pocket money for himself. So he dressed as nicely as he could and filled himself with a big breakfast. Once done he gathered up a few resumes that he had created the night before and with Bumblebee he walked out, but not before they both wished Alana luck at school. She gave them a smile and assured them that she would be fine.

When the time came for Alana to leave Ironhide volunteered himself to drive her and once all of the Autobots were done wishing her luck they set off towards school. The school yard was filled with children as Ironhide pulled up. Alana's grip tightened on her backpack and she gave the school a nervous look. Ironhide caught onto her mood almost immediately.

"Awww, Alana, it'll be fine, trust me" Ironhide in his holoform mode leaned over the seat and began to rub her back.

Alana turned his head to look at her "You sure?" she asked him.

"Absolutely" Ironhide nodded. "Oh, Alana. Make sure you don't talk about us at school ok?"

"Us?" Alana asked.

"Optimus, myself and everyone else" Ironhide clarified "Remember I have a secret identity" he gave her a wink.

"I remember, Rick?" she said his fake name like a question.

"Yup but at school just call me your daddy" Ironhide told her.

"Ok!" Alana nodded.

Ironhide leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead "Be good" he told her.

"I will" Alana told him. She opened the door and hopped out. After giving him one last wave she walked on inside.

Once inside she was met by a teacher who asked her what her name was and what grade she was in, Alana told her and the teacher directed her down a hallway and told her that her classroom was at the end of the hall. Alana went where the teacher directed her and walked into a brightly decorated classroom. The desks were in little groups of four and there was a white board at the front of the classroom, all around on the walls were posters and works done by former students. The teacher's desk was in the back and she was sitting at it.

Her hair was brown like Alana's but it was all curly and frizzy where as Alana just had wavy hair. The teacher looked up and gave her a smile.

"Ah my first student!" she said standing up and opening her arms as if she were expecting a hug. Alana had no intention of hugging a complete stranger so she just stayed where she was. "What's you name dear?" the teacher asked, she had dropped her arms and had picked up a clipboard which Alana assumed had the names of all the students on it.

"I'm Alana" Alana said.

The teacher looked at the list, it was apparent she had found Alana's name when she had looked up "Autobot? I've never heard of a last name like that before"

"Is that bad?" Alana asked.

"No dear, you have a lovely last name" the teacher said. She walked on over to Alana and knelt down in front of her. "My name is Miss Schulz" when Alana tried to pronounce her last name and failed Miss Schulz laughed, "You can just call me Miss S everyone does."

"Miss S" Alana said her name and nodded "Ok"

"Alright Alana, pick your desk!" Miss S stood up and waved her hands in the direction of the desks.

"Huh?" Alana looked up at her teacher with a questioning look.

"Pick out which desk you want to sit at" Miss S told her.

"Oh" Alana turned to look at the desks. She didn't want a desk in the front so she opted for one in the back. As she sat in her new desk another bunch of students walked in. it was a group of boys and they were laughing.

Miss S introduced her self the same way she had done with Alana to the boys and then after checking off their names she told them to pick out desks. The boys banded together and picked the group of desks in the middle of the classroom. As they sat and chatted another little girl walked into the classroom her hair was styled the same as Alana's though Alana could tell that a lot more time and care had been put into her braids though, they were even unlike hers, but Alana didn't mind, she thought that her braids looked nice all the same. The girl gave her a look and then proceeded to walk towards the teacher, her skirt making soft swishing sounds as she walked. She introduced herself as Mabel.

Miss S smiled at her "That's a lovely name" she told Mabel. Mabel thanked her and she then turned on her heel and walked past Alana and sat at the front of class. She positioned her pink backpack to be right next to her feet and took out a book which she put on top of her desk on the center. Then taking out a newly sharpened pink pencil she began to draw in the cover of her book.

Alana looked down at her own backpack which looked as if it had been thrown on the ground with force. Some of her school supplies were sticking out and she moved quickly to put her backpack to rights. As she did so another student walked in. He was a scrawny looking boy with big glasses that kept slipping down his nose. He wore a shirt that was tucked into his pants; his pants looked a bit high water on him. As he walked in the boys looked at him and sniggered, but Alana saw him as a possible friend.

"Well hello dear!" Miss S said, she introduced herself and asked him for his name.

"Uh… My name is David" he told her. He had a nice voice; it wasn't a nasally nerdy voice which Alana had expected.

"Well David. Take a seat" Miss S gestured in the desks general direction once more.

"Uh… which seat" he looked up at Miss S and pushed up his glasses.

"Pick one" Miss S told him smiling, other students had come in that needed her attention so David was gently pushed away. Alana watched as his eyes landed on a desk that the group of boys had left open. But when they saw him looking they shook their heads at him and his shoulders slumped. Alana tried to catch his eye and when he finally did look at her she gave him a smile and patted the seat of the desk next to her. David took the hint and gratefully took the seat.

As soon as he was seated Alana coughed and said "Hello"

"Hullo" he said, looking at her above his abnormally large glasses.

"I'm Alana" Alana held out her hand for him to shake and he took it.

"I'm David" he smiled at her and she smiled back.

Pretty soon the classroom was filled up with little first graders, two more students had joined Alana and David's desk area, both were boys and they both had a dumb sort of look to them. One was picking his nose where as the other was continually scratching his head. Alana looked at them with curiosity where as David seemed repulsed by them.

"Hello" Alana said.

They looked up at her and then at each other, "Huh?" was all they said.

"Hello" Alana tried again, "Uhm, my name is Alana, and this is David" she gestured towards David who was leaning back in his chair as far as he could.

"Uh well I'm Harry" the boy picking his nose stopped long enough to tell her his name and then resumed picking.

The boy scratching his head did not stop when he introduced himself as Bret"

Alana nodded, she jumped as the bell rang signaling the start of the day.

"Alright children" Miss S held up her hands signaling for the class to quite down. Once they had stopped talking Miss S clapped her hands together and gave everyone a great big smile. "Good morning everyone!" she said. "Welcome to the first grade here at GC Elementary School, I'm sure you'll all have fun here"

Suddenly another bell rang making Alana jump again, the bell was different to the soft ding at her old school, this bell sounded like a fire alarm, she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to get used to it.

Miss S waited for the bell to stop and then flashed them another smile, she then began to go over all of the rules and expectations of her class and then asked if there were any questions. When no one had any she turned around and began to write a word on the white board.

Alana sounded out the word and read it as Math. Alana knew what math was, she had learned a little bit of it at school and the Autobots had been displeased with the amount of time it took to teach a simple equation to a student so they had taught her math. Sam had warned the Autobots that if she was to learn too much math she would be too ahead of the class and it would be no fun. So they had stopped teaching her new things but made sure that she still remembered what they had already taught her by leaving little sheets of paper in her room to complete. If she handed them in she was rewarded with a little toy or a candy. Her learning went as far as addition and subtraction, Ratchet was on the verge of teaching her multiplication when Sam had stopped them.

Miss S went to describe math to the children and they seemed to understand what she meant when she had said Addition and subtraction so once done her speech she clapped her hands excitedly again.

"Now Children we cannot start this subject with out a title page in our binders." She clapped her hands once more. "For this class you will make a math title page based on what you know about math. So get your binders out and take out a blank sheet of paper and begin drawing" she left it at that and the rest of the students began to take out their binders and tried to dig out a blank sheet of paper. Alana had put graph paper and lined paper into the binder which she had decided would be her math binder, but she had no blank paper. When she saw that David had some she asked him for a sheet and he gave her one.

Then she took out a newly sharpened pencil. David had a mechanical pencil, Harry and Bret were staring at it enviously, and like Alana they also had normal pencils.

"Get to work everyone!" Miss S yelled from her desk.

Alana stared at the blank sheet of paper before her and then did what she knew to be math. Not being a very imaginative person she began to write out a math problem. She added four three digit numbers together and then moved onto another question which she made to be a subtraction question. After that question she had moved back to an addition problem. David on the other hand was making bubble addition and subtraction signs on his sheet of paper. Harry was drawing a stick man being stabbed by a plus sign. Bret on the other hand seemed to be quite the artist, he was drawing a respectable looking face which was smiling and then above the face he wrote the words math in a fancy style.

Miss S got up a few moments later to check and see how everyone was doing. She started at the front of the class.

She looked at Mabel's first and exclaimed "What lovely flowers Mabel!" she moved on to the next student "Eric, why that plus sign looks fabulous!" and once more she moved on "Lovely Lucy!" Miss S giggled at her own alliteration. It went on like so until she reached the back table. "Oh that's beautiful Bret!" Miss S cried out. She then looked at Harry's and frowned "Harry, she began, this is a respectable school, please don't draw those sorts of pictures" she shook her head at him and Harry grumbled. She then looked at David's and nodded appreciatively, though she said nothing, and David looked disappointed. Then lastly she looked over Alana's shoulder. "What are you doing there dear?"

Alana shrugged "Addition" she told her pointing at the newest equations she was working on.

Miss S inspected Alana's work and found it all to be correct, she ruffled Alana's hair making her braids go askew "Well aren't you a smart cookie" she told Alana.

"Uh thank you" Alana said not sure what to say to Miss S.

Miss S straightened up and walked back to her desk. The rest of the period passed quickly and Alana had moved onto her second page of equations when the bell suddenly rang. The class jumped and one kid let out a shout.

"Alright kids" Miss S stood up "Next is science!" she told them. The class went on and Alana found herself on the same level as the rest of the class regarding science. She drew a bunch of trees for her science title page.

Then came time for recess, the Kids jumped up and rushed for the door, eager to try out the play ground. David and Alana walked out together they were planning to try out the slide but when they saw the line up for the slide they decided that the sand box would be a lot more fun. And so they dug and dug until David let out a little cry, he had found a little army man in the sand and was looking at it proudly. Alana congratulated him but she didn't do it for long, she too wanted to find something in the sand.

When the bell rang for the next class David came in the room loaded with little army men and Alana came in loaded with a little toy car she had found. Alana had found some army men but had given them to David since he showed more interest in them then her. All she wanted was the little car. The next class was art and the kids were once more forced to bring out a pencil and a sheet of paper.

They were given the topic to draw their families and Alana was left once more to stare at the sheet of paper. She knew she wasn't allowed to tell anyone about her family and she was fairly sure that she wasn't allowed to draw them. So Alana decided to draw the Autobots in their holoforms. She drew herself first giving herself messed up braids. Then came Ironhide she made sure that his hair was short and that he was muscled. Ratchet soot on her other side she made sure that his yellowish hair was the right length. Then came Bumblebee and Sam who was sitting on Bumblebee's shoulder. Optimus stood beside Ratchet and he was smiling. Alana made Fireflight hover above the group and once she was done Miss S came over and exclaimed "you have a big family!"

"I do?" Alana wasn't sure what the normal size for a family was so she had to ask.

"Yes you do!" Miss s said giving her a smile. "Why don't you write your name down and then I can hang it up."

"Ok" Alana wrote her name with her black crayon and handed the picture over to Miss S, her pictures joined the rest of her class mate's pictures.

Alana found out that David was an only child and that Harry and Bret were cousins. She didn't know what a cousin was but she figured it had something to do with all of the family stuff that the school seemed to be focusing on.

And so the day passed Alana learned a lot more about school and its expectations and at the end of the day she was ready to go home.

While Alana had been at school the Autobots had been discussing Alana, Ironhide had noticed that they had been calling her an Autobot but not one thing she had, had the Autobot symbol on it. Ironhide had figured that this was a serious problem because Alana had nothing to distinguish herself as an Autobot with. Ratchet had jokingly said that they should give her a tattoo but Optimus had given him a cold look.

"Maybe just a T-shirt or something with the Autobot symbol on it" Ironhide had said.

"Or a hat" Optimus said.

"A hat would work" Ratchet said, "If you give me one I can get the symbol on the hat in less than five minutes." Ironhide wishing to surprise Alana with the hat after her first day of school made a rush to get a hat with nothing on it. He got a black one and speed it back to Ratchet. Ratchet plastered an Autobot symbol to the hat and passed it back to Ironhide. The hat was a ball cap and the symbol was placed on the front just above the rim. Ironhide thanked Ratchet quickly and rushed for the school where he knew the students were preparing to end the day.

The bell rang before Ironhide had gotten there and Alana waited patently for him, David waved goodbye to her and got on his bus, Alana waved back just as Ironhide drove up. Behind him a sleek Corvette drove up, Mabel got in but not before sneering at the Truck Alana was getting into. Alana frowned at the girl and shook her head, what was that girl's problem? She hadn't even talked to her.

Once Alana was seated Ironhide's holoform gave Alana a mischievous grin.

"I got something for you" he told her.

"Ohh! What!?" Alana looked at him excitedly. Ironhide produced from behind him a black ball cap which Alana immediately noticed had the Autobot symbol on it. "Ooooh!" she took it and examined it. Ironhide took it out of her hands and placed it on her head and gave her an approving nod.

"Now your really my little army girl" he told her. Alana giggled and held onto the hat on her head.

"Thank you Ironhide" she told him. Alana was reaching for the little flap above the front window that held a mirror; she wanted to see what she looked like. Ironhide saw her intent and mentally lowered the mirror so that she could see. After examining herself from all angles Alana gave a happy giggled and once more thanked Ironhide.

"Your welcome" Ironhide said smiling "Make sure you thank Ratchet and Optimus too. Ok?"

"Ok" Alana said. She threw her backpack in the back seat "Drive fast ok?" Ironhide laughed and his engines let out a giant roar which scared some students. Alana laughed as the truck shot off.

Ironhide reached the base in record time and skidded to a stop right in front of Optimus who was staring down at him disapprovingly. Ironhide waited for Alana to grab her things and get out, once she was a safe distance away Ironhide transformed.

"Sorry sir" I was just having some fun Ironhide tried to explain himself.

Before Optimus could answer Alana shouted "OOOOoooptimus!"

Optimus looked down at the girl with a kinder look than the one he had been giving Ironhide before, "Yes Alana" he bent down so that he could see her better.

"Thank you for my hat" she said with a great big smile. She took off her hat and waved it at him.

Optimus laughed "your welcome Alana" he told her "Now run along" Alana did as Optimus told her and went off to find Ratchet.

Ironhide was about to make a break for it when Optimus' calm voice stopped him "Ironhide"

Ironhide flinched and looked up at the big bot before him "Y-yes sir"

Optimus transformed and his voice exited the cab "It's apparent you and I need to review driving safety. Lets take a drive down town shall we?"

"Ah crap" Ironhide muttered.

"Excuse me?" Optimus said.

"Ah! I mean Yes sir!" Ironhide transformed and the two bots drove off.

Alana rushed into the med lab shouting Ratchet's name, Ratchet jumped. Alana stopped in the door way and saw on the table a silver body, Ratchet ran in front of the body shielding it from Alana's view.

"Whose that Ratchet?" Alana asked.

"Nobody, run along Alana" Ratchet said.

"But Ironhide told me-"

"Alana I said run along!" Ratchet half shouted at the little girl before him. Alana looked hurt but did as he said and stepped out of the med lab and ran to her room a small tear forming in the corner of her eye. She had never been yelled at before by an Autobot and it hurt.

So she sat in her room quietly playing with her LEGO sitting on her bed. She looked up when the door opened. Ironhide was back and he looked grumpy, but when he saw her face his grumpiness vanished in an instant.

"Alana, what's wrong?" Ironhide scooped up the small child and began to rock her gently cradling her against his chest. Alana's chin quivered and after a moment she broke down. Her tears ran down her chin to land on his hand.

Ironhide had dealt with Alana crying before when she had fallen off a great number of things or when people at school were mean to her, but now he was not sure why she was crying so he could say nothing to comfort her until he knew the situation. So he stayed silent and allowed Alana to cling to his armor and cry, when she had let go of his chest armor his other hand came up and brushed her cheek gently getting rid of some of the tears that were still on her cheek. Alana sniffed and looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy.

"What happened Alana?" Ironhide asked once he figured she was a little over her ordeal.

"R-Ratchet y-yelled-d a-a-t me" she sniffled brushing away her tears.

"What! Why?" Ironhide was already walking out of Alana's room and heading towards the med lab.

"I-I d-dunno-o" Alana said. When Ironhide entered the room she hid in Ironhide's hand to afraid to look at Ratchet in fear he was still mad at her.

"Ratchet!" Ironhide yelled.

"What!" Ratchet yelled back at him. Alana covered her ears not wanting to hear a fight.

Ironhide looked down at the cowering girl in his hand "Why did you yell at Alana?" he asked in a softer tone, not wanting to alarm Alana.

"Ironhide, she saw Jazz" Ratchet said. He was putting Jazz's remains in a cupboard carefully. He had been working on Jazz late at night or when Alana was at school.

"That's no reason to yell at her" Ironhide told him angrily. "She has every right to know about Jazz" he said.

"I don't want her to see what war does to our race!" Ratchet yelled "She shouldn't be given those nightmares!"

"She's gonna see it when the Decepticons attack earth!" Ironhide retaliated with a yell, though he immediately softened his voice when he heard Alana whimper.

Ratchet thought for a moment and then sighed "Give her here Ironhide" Ironhide narrowed his optics at Ratchet silently warning him that if he did anything to make Alana even more sad then she was already then he would blow him to kingdom come. Ratchet got the warning but took Alana all the same.

Ironhide stepped out of the room and leaned his audio receptors against the door, Ratchet was speaking.

"Alana, do you know how we met Sam?" Ratchet asked. Alana had apparently answered with a shake of her head because Ratchet was continuing on "We had come to earth in search of glasses that held a map towards the Allspark-"

"What is Allspark?" Alana interrupted him.

"The Allspark is the object that created the planet where I am from, it created me too" he said.

"Oh" was all that Alana said.

Ratchet held Alana gently in his hand; he gave her a strange look and then moved his hand up so that he could look at her better.

"The Allspark was wanted by the Decepticons-" Ratchet continued but he was interrupted by Alana once more.

"Those are the bad guys, right?" she looked into his optics seeking confirmation that her assumption was right.

"That's right." Ratchet said "We the Autobots had a giant war with them on our planet and the Allspark was lost in space during the fight" Ratchet paused before continuing, "During the fight our planet was destroyed and the Autobots searched space for the Allspark. But unknown to us, the Decepticon Megatron-"

"Whose he?" Alana asked her head tilting to the side.

"The leader of the Decepticons" Ratchet clarified "As I was saying, Megatron had tracked the Allspark to earth but he crash landed"

Ironhide while listening was delighted to hear Alana say "Loser" his stifled his snicker and continued to listen.

Ratchet had also been amused to Alana call the most feared of all Decepticons a loser. The smile was evident in his voice when he said "Yes that was a fairly dumb mistake but fortunately Bumblebee was able to come to earth and find Sam. Sam had the map to which would lead us to the Allspark and once Sam found out about us he gave us the glasses. We were able to read the map and Bumblebee who was captured by the group who had the Allspark was able to bring it to us."

"Bumblebee was captured!" Alana sounded surprised. "He told me he was too cool to be captured" Alana said thoughtfully.

Ratchet laughed "Sounds like someone is in denial" he told her. "But continuing on, the Allspark was brought to a city called Mission City and there we had a massive battle"

"Ooh…" Alana sounded interested in what happened in the battle.

"We had human military help and because of Sam we were able to defeat the Decepticons, he was the one who defeated Megatron."

"Sam" Alana sounded surprised "But… But… Sam- Sam" Alana didn't sound too sure that her friend could have defeated Megatron.

"He shoved the Allspark into Megatron's chest causing him to have an overload of power and go offline, Optimus then pulled a shard of the Allspark which Megatron had failed to absorb out. He holds it with him now" Ratchet said.

"Ok!" Alana said, she was preparing to hop off Ratchet's hand thinking the story was done but Ratchet stopped her.

"Alana, I'm not done yet" Ratchet said.

"Oh… sorry" she grinned sheepishly at him.

"That's ok" Ratchet said. "In the battle we lost a friend, his name was Jazz and he tried to protect the humans, but Megatron got him"

"Oh…" Alana looked up at him sadly.

Ratchet put down Alana, bent down and opened the cupboard holding the remains of Jazz.

"This is Jazz" he said lifting up the broken torso and the legs. Alana stood up and walked to the body, she placed a hand on the dented shoulder plate and looked up at Ratchet.

"Are you trying to bring him back?" she asked.

"Yes" Ratchet said sighing "Yes I am"


	10. Chapter 10

Now that Alana knew about Jazz Ratchet was able to work on Jazz's remains in her presence. When ever Jazz's body was out Alana would go all quiet and observe Ratchet and what he did. After a few moments of silence she would ask if there was anything that she could do to help. At first Ratchet was hesitant, but when he caved in he found Alana to be a great help when small wires and small places were involved, she could crawl into small little places and by following instructions Ratchet gave her she was able to speed up the entire process.

Alana was coming home from school one day, Ratchet was waiting for her, and he had a few repairs for which her small hands were required.

"Alana" Ratchet said as she was coming in, Ironhide following after her "I need your help in the med lab" he said.

Alana shook her head at him and looked sad "Sorry but I have homework" she told him holding up her backpack with was filled with binders.

Ironhide leaned down "What's homework?"

Ratchet also leaned down "Yeah" he said.

Alana thought for a moment "well at school sometimes we don't finish our work in class so we have to bring it home and finish it at home" she said trying to explain it as best as she could.

"Well that's just dumb" Ironhide said "Why not wait for the next day of school and continue the work then"

"Yeah" Ratchet said "This interferes with family time" he said.

Alana shook her head up at him "Miss S says I'm supposed't ask you guys to help me"

"But what if we have plans" Ironhide said.

"Homework comes first" Alana told him.

Ironhide le out a big sigh "Alright Alana" He picked her up gently and placed her on his shoulder "I'll help you with your homework"

Ratchet shrugged "I wanna see what the whole fuss is about for homework so I'll help too" they then walked into the lounge where they sat Alana on a table and the big bots picked up chairs and moved them over to the table where they then sat waiting for Alana to show them what homework was.

Alana took out a small binder and a pencil and opened it to a half filled page, filled with messy writing.

"What are you supposed to do for this" Ironhide said leaning forward reading what she had written.

"We are supposed't write about what we think of school" Alana told them looking up at them for help.

"Well what have you written so far?" Ratchet asked.

Alana looked down and began to read her own writing, "I think school teaches us good things though math is no fun because I know everything you are teaching. The sandbox is full of army men and sometimes it gots a car. L.A is kinda dumb. And Mabel don't like me, and Harry likes to pick his nose. David likes the army men we find in the sandbox and I like the car." Alana looked up at them "That's all I got" she said "Miss S wants a whole page!" she waved her arms at the word whole.

Ratchet sniggered "You could also say it's lacking in grammatical lessons"

Alana looked up at him "Huh?" she said, she looked down at her paper and shrugged, she leaned down and put her pen to the paper, then she looked up at Ratchet "How do you spell that?" she said. Ironhide laughed while Ratchet spelled it out for her.

After she had another two lines from Ratchet's idea she looked up again. "What else?" she asked.

They thought for a moment until Ironhide spoke "Why do you think L.A is dumb?" he asked.

"Cause we have to write this" Alana said. She looked up at Ironhide "Should I put that down?" she asked.

Ironhide shrugged "Why not" and Alana wrote that down two leaving one line left for her to fill in. Alana looked at it for a moment and proceeded to fill it in with the words 'this year will be ok… I guess" she looked up at them proudly. "Done" she told them.

Ratchet looked down at the sheet of paper which she was putting away "I don't understand why they can't let you finish it at school" he said.

"Ah well" Ironhide said getting up.

Ratchet picked up Alana "Time for you to help me" he told her. Alana gave him a thumbs up and they walked towards the med lab.

A couple days later Alana was sitting in her desk looking quite bored, beside her David was doodling, they had a guest speaker who was a fireman. He was going on and on about how to become a fireman and when time came for him to close up his speech he said,

"It has always been my goal to be a fireman, I urge you all to take a goal and keep it in mind and work hard towards it" he said for his closing. He then turned to Miss S and said "thank you," then he walked out of the class room.

Alana frowned, did she have any goals? Alana thought, she didn't think so. As she was searching for a goal her thoughts drifted to Jazz and how his body lie dormant in the cupboard of Ratchet's med lab. She thought about Ratchet's efforts and compared them to her own. Once more she frowned, the fireman was right, she did need a goal. After thinking about it for a moment more Alana decided it would be her goal to bring back Jazz, it was a difficult goal she knew and studying was needed but Alana figured she could do it.

After school Alana ran over to Ironhide who was waiting for her patiently. Once she got in she turned to him and asked,

"Can we go to a library?" she gave him a big pleading smile.

Ironhide frowned "I suppose so" he drove off and headed towards the towns library. Once there Alana ran out of Ironhide and ran towards the door, Ironhide turned on his holoform and followed in after her. She didn't go to the kids section like he had expected but rather to the manual section. There she looked up at the spines of the books sounding out the words trying to figure out if they could help with Jazz. When her eyes landed on a book that read 'Ethical Hacking & Countermeasures' she shrugged and took it down from the shelve. It was a heavy book and Alana figured she could only carry one more of the books of about the same size. She grabbed two of them and handed them to Ironhide who looked down at her in surprise.

"Can I get these one's?" she asked.

Ironhide looked down at the heavy books in his hands "Are you sure you want these?" he asked. "There are far more interesting books over there" he pointed towards the kids section of the library.

"Nope I want these" Alana told him with stubbornness.

"Ok" Ironhide sighed. He walked to books over to the counter and took them out while Alana waited patently. Once she had the books in her hands she ran out the door and sat back in Ironhide, Ironhide sighed and followed after her.

Once they were home Alana waved goodbye to him and rushed to her room where she shut the door and sat on her bed. She took out the first book and opened it to the first page. It read foreword, Alana skipped it and turned to the next page and began reading. And by the end of the first twenty pages Alana discovered in order to fully understand what she was reading she needed a computer. Alana hadn't understood a word but she was determined.

And so for the next two weeks Alana poured over the book and with the use of a dictionary slowly she started to learn. But since she was almost seven she had no clue how to apply what she learned to real life. With a small little sigh Alana closed to book.

Pretty soon it came time for the first parent teacher meeting night; the students had all been working hard to put together portfolios of what they had done. Alana was feeling quite proud of her portfolio; she had included the 'what she thought of school so far' page which she Ironhide and Ratchet had worked on.

The night of the parent teacher interviews Ironhide and Ratchet drove on over; Ratchet carrying Alana. Once there they got out and activated their holoforms and walked in. Alana led them to her class room where she excitedly pointed out the drawing of her family she had been told to draw on the first day of school. Ironhide had spotted himself easily and pointed to the drawing of him.

"That's me right?" he looked down at her.

"Yup!" Alana smiled.

Ratchet also found himself and gave her a smile "I do believe you drew me quite well" he told her, Alana giggled and was about to point out the others when she remembered she could not say the Autobots true names. Ironhide saw her intent as did Ratchet they leaned in close and told her to whisper who everyone else was. Alana did so and the patted her head proudly.

"You did well Alana." Ironhide patted her head and stood up to his full height.

'Where is your desk Alana?" Ratchet asked looking around the room. The other children were around as well showing their parents their work and portfolios. Alana rushed on over to her desk and sat in it.

"This one" she said proudly.

Ironhide peeked into the little cavity that held all of the students books and supplies and laughed as he found it a mess, "Well Alana you have a very nice desk" he knelt down and noticed a folder which was on top of her desk. "What's that?" he asked pointing to it.

Alana shrugged "Just some work we've been doing" she said.

Ratchet took it and leafed through it, when he saw the 'what I think of school so far' page he frowned. "How come you got such a low mark on this?" he showed it to her.

Alana sighed "She said that my negativity to school was not acceptable"

Ratchet frowned "But this is the truth right?" he asked "You did write what you felt"

"Yup" Alana nodded.

"Then she's asking you to lie?" Ironhide asked confused, "I thought school taught good morals"

Alana shrugged "It doesn't matter. I got a high mark on my math test though" she pointed to another page which showed a bunch of math problems and a big 100% in red on the top. Ratchet smiled happy his teaching was still in effect.

"Excuse me" a voice said behind Ratchet.

"Oh sorry" Ratchet got out of the way and say a small little man being led by his son to the desk next to Alana.

Alana gave the boy a smile and turned to look at Ratchet and Ironhide "This is David, he's my friend"

Ironhide smiled at David "Nice to meet you" he said.

David looked at the two muscled men before him in awe and turned to Alana "Wow!" he said in awe.

David was suddenly joined by a woman with wild hair, she gave the men standing before her a look over when she saw Alana she then covered her son's ears and leaned forward "Are you gay?" she asked.

Ironhide tilted his head to the side his eyes closing for half a second looking up what the word meant. Once he had a definition he opened is eyes feeling somewhat disturbed, it was apparent Ratchet had also figured out what the lady meant by gay. He shuddered and shook his head.

"No ma'm" Ratchet said, he gave Ironhide a look and shuddered once more.

"Then who is the father?" the lady asked.

Ironhide raised his hand "I am" he said.

"And you are?" she turned to look at Ratchet.

Ratchet thought for a quick moment "I'm her uncle"

The lady narrowed her eyes a Ratchet "You two don't look like brothers" she said looking between them.

"Oh we get that all the time" Ironhide said trying to force a laugh.

"I see" the lady said uncovering her son's ears.

Before she could continue Miss S stepped to the front of the class "good evening everyone" she said clapping her hands. "Oh this is so exciting!" she said "It's so lovely to have everyone here! I invite you all to stay and chat and get to know what your child has been doing in this class" she said. There was a quiet moment and then the people in the class room started talking once more.

Ironhide eyes the David's mother nervously and inched farther away from her. Ratchet gave the woman a pained smile and turned to Alana,

"Wanna go home now?" he asked "I think Sam and Bu-" he cut himself off remembering that Bumblebee's name was not an average name among humans "Sam and his friend are already making dinner" Ratchet corrected himself.

Alana looked up at him with a strange look on her face "Sam has friends?" she asked.

Ratchet grimaced and Ironhide stifled his laughter, Ironhide then bent down and picked up his little girl "Time to take you home" he said.

"Ok!" Alana said. She looked down at David "Bye bye David"

"Bye Alana!" he waved at her.

Ironhide held onto Alana as he and Ratchet walk out of the building, once out he let put Alana on his shoulders and she let out a whoop.

"Ohh!" she held onto his head. "Run Ironhide!" she told him.

"Hey what did I say about calling me that in town?" Ironhide told her, he didn't mind too much since no one was around.

"Oh right… sorry. Run fast Dad!" Alana shouted and Ironhide took off towards his original body, Alana shouting the whole way there. "Ok now drive fast!"

"Alana last time I drove fast Optimus was mad, don't you remember?" Ironhide said putting her down into the passenger seat.

"Optimus doesn't have to know" Alana told him, her eyes twinkled mischievously.

Ironhide let out a sigh "if he catches us…."

"He wont I promise" Alana told him.

"Fine" Ironhide disappeared and the passenger door closed on its own accord. Ironhide's engine started and he rushed on home. Ratchet decided to let loose as well so he too pushed the speed limit and drove along with them on the way there.

Once at the base Alana got out and the two bots transformed, and the three of them walked into the base together.

Once they had reached the kitchen they found Sam covered in spaghetti sauce and Bumblebee in almost the same state. Bumblebee was rubbing the sauce off his yellow armor shaking his head sadly.

"We followed all the instructions" Sam said. "How come it exploded on us?"

Alana giggled and walked on over to Bumblebee holding a wet towel. She began to help him scrub the sauce off.

"Thanks Alana" Bumblebee looked down at her; a thankful look crossed his metal face. Alana didn't answer him but rather she turned around and washed out the cloth and walked back and began to scrub him off some more. Sam gave up trying to get the sauce out of his hair and ran for the shower.

"Maybe you should go to a car wash" Alana told Bumblebee.

"Yeah I think I will" Bumblebee said. One of his optics flashed at her in what was a transformer type wink and then he walked out of the room still covered in spaghetti sauce.

Alana looked down at the floor and sighed, "I need a mop" she said looking up at Ironhide. Ironhide got her the requested item from a large cupboard and handed them to her. Alana then began to mop the floor; it seemed she had some experience which was in fact the case. The Autobots were no good at cooking, even though they were super advanced robots they just couldn't seem to get the hang of cooking human food. So Alana's meals were usually quite simple, or they were take out. So because of the Autobots lack of cooking spills there usually were quite a lot of accidents in the kitchen and Alana had gotten quite good at helping cleaning up.

Once done cleaning she opened the fridge and took out the ingredients for a chicken sandwich. Once the Autobots made sure she was all set they left her and went about doing their own thing.

Once done her dinner she got ready for bed, she was just climbing into bed when Optimus came in. He flashed her a smile and bent down. His large metallic hand brought up the sheets so that they were coving everything but her head. Alana gave off a contented sigh and closed her eyes.

"Good night sweetheart" Optimus whispered, he was getting up when Alana's voice stopped him.

"Optimus?" she sounded sleepy. Optimus knelt back down and waited for the little human to speak "Can I have a computer?" she asked.

"A computer?" Optimus said thoughtfully "I suppose it's an option. Why do you want one?" Optimus asked.

The sheets rose indicating that Alana's shoulders were rising in a shrug "Dunno for school I suppose" she said.

Optimus knew immediately she was hiding something from him "Alana" he said her name sternly.

Alana sat up "Alright she said "I wanna try out some stuff" she told him.

"What stuff?" Optimus asked. Alana said nothing but pointed to the thick books on the end of her bed. Optimus looked at them "Hacking?" he asked sounding surprised.

"Yeah" Alana said.

"What do you want to hack?" Optimus' asked.

"Jazz" Alana said simply.

"What?" Optimus sounded surprised she even knew about Jazz.

"I wanna help Ratchet" Alana told him, "But I need a computer" she said.

"How will hacking help Jazz and Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"Well when Ratchet fixes Jazz's body that's not gonna bring him back right?" Alana said knowing all to well about the transformers sparks. Ironhide had told her all about then when she had seen a blue glowing orb coming from each of the Autobot's bodies when they were in a black out.

"That's right" Optimus said.

"Well if I can connect to his spark maybe I can restart him" Alana said.

"How?" Optimus asked.

Alana bowed her head "I don't know yet" her head snapped back up "But I'll figure it out!" she told him. Optimus was starting to see little but some sense to her plan.

"I suppose I'll ask Ironhide to get you one in the morning" Optimus said, if there was a chance they could bring Jazz back he was going to take it, even if it was coming from an unlikely source- that source being a six year old child.

"Thank you!" Alana's eyes popped, her green eyes twinkled and she smiled. Then she flopped back down onto her bed and Optimus once more fixed the sheets so that they were covering her.

"Good night Alana" Optimus said softly.

"Good night Optimus" Alana said with a small sigh.

Optimus got up and shut off the light to her room and quietly exited. He then walked over to Ratchet's med lab where he was certain the doc bot was working on Jazz's body. Optimus watched him for a second.

"Is there something wrong?" Ratchet asked looking over at his leader.

"No" Optimus said. "Alana just told me something very interesting" he said.

"What?" Ratchet said stopping his work to look up at Optimus. Optimus began to tell him of her idea to connect to Jazz's spark and with some clever hacking restarting him. Ratchet leaned back and smiled broadly at Optimus "We have one smart kid" he told him.

"So it has a possibility of working?" Optimus said surprised.

"Yeah it might work" Ratchet said "we might as well try it" Ratchet said.

"Then Ironhide will be getting Alana a computer tomorrow" Optimus said, he was about to leave when Ratchet called after him.

"Sir? Make sure she gets a real high powered one" Ratchet said "It needs to be able to handle Jazz's programming as well as what ever she does to it"

"Alright" Optimus said, he was about to leave when once more Ratchet's voice stopped him again.

"Sir?" Ratchet said.

"Yes Ratchet?"

"Thank you for letting her try this" he said.

Optimus smiled "We all want Jazz back" Optimus said, and with that he left the med lab.


	11. Chapter 11

Alana was given a computer the very next day. It had been set up in the corner of her room; Alana had then sat down at her desk and began. By the time Alana had figured out the computer it was nearing the end of grade one. Alana could handle the computer better than most people, though she knew she still had a lot to learn. But her learning was dwindled due to school, Alana didn't mind though; she liked school and thought it taught interesting things. But unfortunately for Alana there was one thing that she did not like about school, and it wasn't a class or a teacher but rather a student. And her name was Mabel. The smart young girl who knew she was perfect.

Alana was having another fight with her teacher; Miss S. Alana had brought her Autobot hat to school with every intention of wearing it.

"Alana you know the rules no hats in school" Miss S told her sternly.

Alana shook her head "This is a special hat" she insisted. "It makes me smarter" Alana told her.

Miss S sighed, "Fine" she muttered "keep it on Alana" Alana tugged her hat back on. She adjusted it so that her ponytail was coming out of the hole at the back of the ball cap and then sat nicely in her seat to listen to what Miss S had to say. "Now Children!" she had her happy face back on. "Do you know what we are going to do tomorrow" All of the girls except for Alana nodded, and all the boys including Alana looked somewhat blank. They had forgotten. "Tomorrow is show and tell for everyone, we will be taking our English period and we will show our class mates items which mean something to us"

Alana pulled another blank look, an item which meant something to her… Alana frowned. Something which she thought was special…. Well she had her hat but then everyone knew about that. She wanted something new, something that would wow the class.

Mabel had put up her hand "Miss S, Can I bring in my puppy?" she asked her sweet smooth voice filling the classroom for a few moments.

Miss S looked positively joyful "Of course dear!" she clasped her hands together in a happy gesture. Mabel looked across the classroom and shot Alana a sneer. Alana stared at her blankly, what had the smile meant? Did that mean that she was allowed to pet the puppy first? Alana had always seen dogs and cats when passing pet stores but she had never actually touched one. She had always wondered what it felt like, to pet a dog or a cat. So Alana gave Mabel a happy smile back and was surprised to see Mabel wrinkle her nose at her.

Then suddenly the bell rang, Alana flinched as David jumped to his feet.

"SorryAlanagottagowannabeontheslidefirst!" he told her. Alana blinked a few times after him. Then she got up and prepared herself for recess, even though it was winter the kids still played on the playground, the slide was the most fun especially when snow covered it, the wet snow created a slippery ride which even though was short was still fun. So Alana went over to her snow gear which she and Bumblebee had gotten together and began to put it on. First came the snow pants which she hitched on like overalls. Then came her jacket and a toque to put over her Autobot hat. She then pulled on her gloves and bent down to retrieve her scarf when she noticed that Mabel was standing on it with her perfect pink Barbie boots. Alana quickly looked on over at her snow boots which were a neon orange. She had liked them immediately, but now in the presence of Mabel's boots they looked dumb. Alana ignored it and stood up; she gently tapped Mabel on the shoulder with a heavily gloved hand.

"Uh, Mabel. Your on my scarf, can you get off of it please?" she said. Mabel ignored her and turned to a friend who was putting on a flowery jacket. She began a conversation on her new colouring pencils. "Mabel… You're on my scarf. Please get off" Alana tried again, and once again the girl ignored her. "Mabel your on my scarf, get off" Alana said slowly loosing her patience. Mabel did nothing to show that she acknowledged Alana. "Mabel!" Alana half shouted. Mabel finally looked over to Alana.

"What?" she asked sounding annoyed.

"You're on my scarf" Alana told her pointing down to her pink Barbie boots. Mabel looked down at the scarf and rolled her eyes, she then turned away from Alana once more. Alana growled, she was angry now, but she still managed to control her temper when she tried once more "Mabel. Scarf. Mine. Move. I. Want Outside" Alana told her angrily. Mabel once more ignored her and Alana lost it. Angrily she swooped down and pulled the scarf out from under Mabel's feet in one swift motion, Mabel gave out a small shriek as she fell backward towards the floor. Alana stepped back and put on her scarf. She was about to turn around and walk outside when Mabel suddenly started crying and Miss S rushed over.

"Mabel! What happened?" she asked sounding distressed. She knelt down and lifted up the small girl.

Mabel was gasping through her tears but she managed to point to Alana and whimper "Her"

"Alana…" Miss S looked appalled "Why would you do such a thing?" she asked.

Alana narrowed her eyes at Mabel "It was her fault!" she yelled pointing to Mabel. "She wouldn't get off my scarf!"

"That's not true!" Mabel shouted. "She was pushing me!" she yelled back.

"Did not!" Alana shouted.

Miss S looked between the nicely dressed Mabel in a matching snow outfit and the mismatched Alana who wore what ever came cheapest, it was obvious to her who was telling the truth, "Now girls." Miss S began. "You both need to stop yelling and Alana you need to apologize for pushing Mabel"

Alana's mouth dropped open "But- But"

"Alana apologize" Miss s told her sternly.

Alana stared angrily at her for a few minutes more and then lowered her head feeling quite ashamed "I'm sorry" she muttered.

Mabel gave an exaggerated sniff "I f-forgive you" she stammered.

"Good now, go play outside" Miss S told them pushing on their backs lightly.

Once Alana was outside she walked over to the least populated corner and sat in an angry huff. She hadn't done anything wrong. At least she didn't think she had done anything wrong. No she didn't do anything wrong, she had asked politely and Mabel had ignored her. Oooh, Mabel made Alana so angry! Alana picked up a bunch of snow and threw it. She watched it disappear into the mass of white and frowned. For the next days show and tell she was going to have to beat Mabel make what ever she brought in look dumb compared to Alana's object. Oh yes that was her plan, and then when her object was cooler she would rub it in her face. With a determined look Alana began to plan.

When school was over and Alana was back in her room she ignored the computer off to the side but rather regarded her LEGO. She stared at it for a long time; she had piled all of her LEGO sets in the middle of her room near her bed and stared at them. She stared at them for a good twenty minutes, in her mind gears were turning. After another moment she bent down and got to work.

It was apparent she had an idea when she took apart her most favorite LEGO set- the Slave 1 Star Wars set. She ripped off the top and set it next to her. Then she reached for another set and destroyed that one too, then she reached for another and another and another until finally Alana had taken apart a good majority of her LEGO sets. Once she had sorts and separated all the pieces she began to put the many pieces together.

Alana did not come out for dinner at her usual time, when Ironhide noticed this he entered her room and saw a mass of LEGO bricks covering the floor and Alana sitting in the middle of it all focused completely on her building.

"Alana?" Ironhide couldn't go any farther into the room because if he did he would step on LEGO pieces and surly crush them. So he remained at the door way.

"Huh?" Alana looked up from her building; there was a glint in her eyes which Ironhide did not recognize.

"Are you ok?" Ironhide asked.

"Yup!" Alana gave him the thumb up and the glint disappeared.

"Its time for dinner" Ironhide told her.

"Already?" Alana looked around trying to find a clock but when she didn't see one she stood up. "Ok!" she jumped gracefully over to him, avoiding LEGO and other such items. When she reached him Ironhide scooped her up in his hand and walked her to the kitchen.

Fireflight was in the kitchen, he was observing Sam and his 'food making ritual' as he had so nicely put it. Ironhide put Alana down and she rushed over to see what Sam was making. She was a burning mass of grey.

"Ewww… Sam what are you making?" Alana asked she stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her nose.

Sam looked down at her and then glanced back at his food "I…. have no idea" he told her with a small sigh. Sam turned and looked at Fireflight "You want to study this failed attempt at food?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Fireflight took the burning pan in between his fingers and let out a small yelp. "Ow Hot!" he dropped it and the contents of the pan went flying to land on Alana. Alana let out a pained yell and struggled to get the contents off her arms and face where they had landed. Ironhide acted quickly, he activated his holoform and rushed on over to Alana who was yelling some more. Quickly he picked her up and ran her over to the sink where he turned on the cold water and put her arm under it. He wet a towel and brought it to her face. And when he was sure all of the food was off of her he cleaned off the towel, wet it and put it to her scalded face. He turned off the cool water and began to dab at her burns.

Alana whimpered when he touched them "Don't, hurts!" she tried to pull away but Ironhide was insistent. He held her firmly in place and continued to sooth her burns with a cool cloth. A scan told him the burns were not serious, but he knew they hurt and would leave a mark.

"Shh, Alana, It's gonna be fine" he told her trying his best to figure out the words that would comfort her.

He touched another one of the burns on her face and Alana let out a shriek "No!" she cried trying to pull away.

"Come on sweetheart just stay still I'm going to make it better" Ironhide told her.

Alana let out a small whimper and looked up at him with tear filled eyes "Promise?" she asked.

"I promise" Ironhide told her, he winked and Alana giggled. After a few more moments Ironhide put the towel away and his holoform disappeared. His robot body picked her up gently and walked her over to the med-bay.

After they had left Sam let out a little sigh of relief, he hadn't wanted to step in he saw Ironhide had it handled. He then turned to the stove put his hands on his hip and looked at it with a determined glare.

"Take two" he said as he rolled up his sleeves and headed towards it. Fireflight on the other hand was scanning the remains of the food on the floor.

"Fascinating" he muttered.

Ironhide walked into the med-bay and Ratchet looked up.

"What's the matter?" He asked when he saw Ironhide's face.

"Alana's burnt" Ironhide told him handing the small human over to the medic. Ratchet scanned her he then set her on the table.

"Tch, Alana what have you gotten into this time?" Ratchet asked mildly. He decided that being the calm one this time would be better for Ironhide.

"Got burned" Alana said pointing to her face and arm.

"I see" Ratchet said as he came back a box of bandages on his large metallic hand. He set the box down and activated his holoform.

He then walked on over to Alana and began by applying antibiotics and then he put on large bandages over the affected areas. And soon the small girl had almost her entire left side covered. When Ratchet was done he stood back to look at his human and gave off a laugh.

"Alana you look like a mummy" he told her.

"I do?" Alana asked. "What is mummy?" Alana asked after a moment.

"It's a dead person who has been preserved to look how they did when they were living" Ratchet told her. His holoform disappeared and his robot body seemed to come back to life.

Alana frowned "I look dead?" she asked looking up at him confused.

It was Ironhide's turn to laugh "No Alana" he bent down "You see, when their body's were preserved they were usually wrapped up in bandages like yours"

Alana was quiet for a long while then she said "Oooohhhh. I get it" she said.

Later that night after Alana had been tucked into bed did she then realize she was not done her show and tell item. With a quick gasp she got up and quietly flicked on the light. She then quickly got back to work.

Alana worked well into the night, and when she was finally done Alana thought that her creation was her best work ever. She gave a contented sigh and wrapped it up in a protective blanket and put it gently in her backpack. Then she turned off the light and curled up in her bed.

The next morning came far too early for Alana, due to her lack of sleep she was grumpy and she let everyone know it. She sat hollowed eyed at the table as she dished up her cereal.

Ratchet scanned her and shook his head "honey, what were you doing up all night?" he asked.

"Grah" Alana stuffed a mouthful of cereal in her mouth.

Fireflight chose the moment to step in "I read that humans use coffee to energize themselves. Maybe you should give her some?" he said.

Ratchet shook her head "I am not feeding that child any of the crap, its bad enough she got me to buy that candy bar for her yesterday"

Fireflight frowned "If it was bad for her, why did you let her get it"

Ratchet sighed "she gave me the eyes" he said.

"The eyes?" Fireflight repeated confused.

"Yeah ya' know those great big puppy dog eyes that make you want to do anything for her" Ratchet said. "That right there" he said pointing to Alana "Is her greatest weapon for getting what she wants"

Fireflight chuckled "Ya just gotta love that girl" he said.

Ratchet nodded "That we do" he said.

The thought of beating Mabel in show and tell caused Alana to perk up while they were heading to school, she held onto her beat up backpack, she was careful not to crush her new creation. Once at school she waved Ironhide goodbye and rushed into the school and ran for class. She placed her backpack on the seat of her desk and went back to the back part of the room where her hook was. She took off all of her winter clothes but of course left her Autobot hat on. She went back to her desk and sat waiting impatiently for the bell to ring and for the day to start.

They started with Math, they had a pop quiz and to Alana's surprise she was given a grade two test and passed it with ease. Then came gym, Alana was allowed to keep her hat on for that as well because they were going outside, they played in the snow. Alana was surprised by an ambush of poorly thrown snowballs sent to her by Mabel and a few of her friends. When one hit her in the face the girls laughed and Alana growled. Angrily she picked up a snowball and chucked it at Mabel. It hit her dead on in the face. Mabel let out small shriek and when the teacher looked over he was the remains of a snowball on Mabel's face and when she pointed at Alana the teacher motioned for Alana to come on over. After being given a lecture on why snowball's were dangerous she was forced to sit on the sidelines. David being the kind soul her was went to sit next to her.

"I saw, she threw the snowball first" David told her.

Alana growled "I hate Mabel" she muttered.

"My mom say's hate is a bad word" David told her.

"I don't have a mom" Alana told him, "Sometimes I wish I do" Alana mumbled.

David gave Alana a big smile "you can borrow my mom if you want" he told her.

Alana looked up at him "Huh? Can families do that?" she asked curious now.

David frowned "I dunno, but you can come over sometime and ask my mommy for advice or whatever you want" he told her.

"Really!?" Alana perked up.

"Yeah I can show you my action figures too, and we can play on my swing set" David said.

Alana nodded "Ok!" the bell rang. It was time for show and tell.

After the children were all seated Miss S looked around the room excitedly, "Alright children! Its time for show and tell!" she clapped her hands excitedly and the kids cheered. "I think we will have Mabel go first seeing as her mother is here. Mabel why dodnt you tell us about what you are going to show us?" Miss S said, she took a seat and waited expectantly.

"Well" Mabel began "I decided to bring in my puppy, his name is Oliver" the door opened and a little yellow fluff ball dashed into the room. Alana saw paws and a tongue sticking out of it mouth. The small dog ran into Mabel's feet and raised up on his back paws, silently asking to be pet. Mabel complied and gave the happy dog a scruff on the head. The class 'Awwed' as the puppy barked happily. Mabel went on to explain how she got Oliver and what she did to take care of the animal. Then after the explanation the children were allowed to come up and play with Oliver. Alana stayed in her desk looking crest fallen, she glanced towards her backpack where her creation lay waiting- how could she beat Mabel with the piece of junk she had made? Alana gave off and angry huff and sadly slipped lower into her seat.

After the puppy was brought away the class began their little conversations about the dog.

"That was so cool!" Said one girl.

"It licked me right on the nose!" said another.

"He liked me better than you"

"No way! He hated you"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

Alana sighed once more as Miss S held up her hands once more and brought silence to the class.

"Alright everyone! Who wants to go next" About half the class shot up their hands including David the usually quiet boy. Miss S looked surprised but then smiled "Alright David you next" David pulled out a plastic bag from his desk and walked to the front of the class room. He looked above his glasses his eyes moving around the class room. Then in a sudden motion he pulled out the item.

The girls gave out a shriek while the boys and Alana 'ooohed'. David had pulled out an animal skull.

Miss S looked a little frazzled but said "Alright David, what is that?"

David showed a toothy grin "It's a coyote skull that I found in my backyard!" he told them, showing off the white top part of the skull; it still had some teeth and it looked well worn with many cracks and chips. "My daddy told me that this coyote got into a fight with the others and he was torn apart and eaten!" David told them. "He said there would have been blood everywhere" David waved one of his hands excitedly.

"Gross!" Shouted a girl.

"Awesome!" Yelled a boy.

Miss S seemed to be siding with the girls "That's lovely David. Thank you for brining it in" she motioned for him to return to his desk. He did so with a happy flush on his cheeks.

"Can I see?" asked Alana.

"Sure" he handed the skull over "Just be careful" Alana studied the skull for a while and then handed it back to him.

"So cool." She told him.

"Alana," Miss S' voice came "Would you like to show us what you brought?" She asked.

Alana fidgeted nervously she wrung her hands together and glanced at her backpack "Sorry miss, I forgot it" Alana told her quietly. She knew her creation could never get the same response as Mabel's or David's so she would rather it would be left alone.

"Ah how terrible" Miss S said sadly, she turned to the next student a happy smile on her face, "And what have you brought to show us?" she asked.

It soon came time for the end of the day, the bell rang and the students began to pack up. Alana feeling quite depressed took her time in getting ready. When she had finally reached her hook at the back of the class room most of the kids were already out. Along with being grumpy the lack of sleep Alana had was starting to catch up with her, she gave off a great yawn and made a failed grab for her coat. Mabel looked at Alana with a small smile on her face.

She turned to the tired girl and smirked "what happened to your face?" she asked. Everyone had noticed the bandages but no one in the class had commented on it.

Alana looked at Mabel as she tugged on her coat "It got burnt" she told her simply, still angry at her for having a cooler show and tell item.

"Well it looks dumb" Mabel told her.

Alana zipped up her coat and tugged on her boots, she had not opted for snow pants this day, "Ratchet told me I looked like a mummy" Alana said forgetting the rule about mentioning the Autobots entirely.

"Ratchet, he sounds dumb" Mabel said as she pulled on her pink backpack.

Alana's eyes widened "Uh… well…"

Mabel leaned in "What is he your imaginary friend?" she sneered.

"N-No" Alana shook her head. Unable to think of something that would fix the situation Alana turned on her heel, grabbed her backpack and ran out of the room. Mabel chased after her far from done.

"So he is your imaginary friend" she shouted. Alana ran outside, Ironhide wasn't there yet. She looked around desperately. Mabel caught up with her. "Imaginary friends are for kids" she told her. "He's dumb and you're dumb"

Alana narrowed her eyes "I'm not dumb" she said, "And neither is Ratchet" she said letting her backpack drop. Her hands were at her sides and they were fisted.

"Yes you are!" Mabel laughed.

Alana clenched her teeth "Am not!" she yelled.

"Are too!" Mabel yelled back, then Mabel did the unacceptable, she ripped Alana's Autobot hat from her head and with her perfect pink boot- stepped on it. Alana stood there shocked for a moment as her favorite hat was crushed. Then she snapped, Alana wasted no more time with words but rather she charged and landed a punch square on Mabel's jaw. Mabel fell back into the sidewalk and Alana followed after her throwing punches. Mabel reacted in self defense and began to attack her with her nails. She scratched Alana's nose drawing blood, and she split Alana's lip. Alana rolled Mabel and slammed her into the sidewalk once more.

Ironhide was driving up when he saw his little girl landing punches on another small girl. Normally he would have been quite proud of Alana for her punches, she had bloodies the poor girls nose and it did not seem as if she had any intention of stopping. He parked and quickly activated his holoform and ran towards the two girls.

"Alana!" he shouted grabbing her around the waist and pulling her off the small girl. In the same instant a pair of hands went around the others girls body and she was hauled up by a woman.

"What is the meaning of this!?" The woman spat at Ironhide.

Ironhide ignored the woman and tried to keep a firm grasp on the small girl in his arms, it was very difficult for she was flailing like a fish, "Alana!" Ironhide said her name sternly. After a while Alana finally tired out, she wiggled and turned to look at Ironhide, blood was smeared across her face.

She panted and pointed to the other girl "She started it!" she yelled.

"My Mabel would never do such a thing!" the lady holding Mabel shouted. "She is a perfect little girl"

Ironhide once again ignored the lady "What did she do?" he asked.

"Will you not listen!? My girl would never start such a fight!" the lady shouted again.

Alana also ignored the lady "She called me dumb and she called Ratchet dumb" She flinched when she said Ratchet's name "And she stole my hat and stood on it" Alana yelled angrily. Ironhide looked on the ground for the hat and sure enough he found it looming somewhat squashed. He walked over to it and picked it up. After giving it a few good shakes he brushed off the snow and popped it back to its original shape. Then he put it back on Alana's head.

Then he turned to the small girl in the woman's arms, still ignoring the woman. "Do you have anything to add?" He asked.

Mabel looked intimidated by Ironhide's size and cowered in her mothers arms "I didn't do it" she mumbled.

Ironhide frowned "Alana says you did, Why don't you tell your side of the story?" he said.

"I didn't do anything" Mabel said again.

"So your saying that Alana decided to beat you up for nothing?" Ironhide asked; an eyebrow raised.

"I didn't do anything!" Mabel shouted tears running down her face.

Ironhide was about to question her again when Alana wound her arms around his neck "I wanna go home" she said.

Ironhide nodded and stood up, "Alright" he regarded the woman holding Mabel "you should teach your daughter the value of the truth" he said.

He turned around just as the woman exploded in anger "How dare you! Mabel is a respectable little lady who wouldn't harm a fly!" Ironhide picked up Alana's back pack and held her close as he walked back to his original body.

"Am I in trouble?" Alana asked.

"Yes" Ironhide told her.

"Oh" Alana said sadly. She was placed in the passenger seat and before Ironhide could walk around and get in the drivers seat she took a hold of both his wrists with her small hands "I'm sorry Ironhide" she said looking down; ashamed.

"Aw Alana" Ironhide wrapped his strong arms around her small body and gave her a bone crushing hug.

"Ironhide!" Alana yelled laughing "Air!" she shouted. Ironhide let go of her and gave her a pat on the head, "Am I still in trouble"

Ironhide thought for a moment "Yes" he said after a while "I understand your reasons for fighting, but fighting is still not allowed at school"

"Oh…" Alana said. She reached up and grabbed her hat.

"We're going to talk to Optimus and Ratchet about this, after we put some band-aids on those cuts of yours." Ironhide got in the drivers seat and deactivated his holoform. "Your getting really beat up these days" In reaction to his worlds Alana touched the bandages on her cheek; she gave off a small shrug. They drove to the base in silence, Alana knew Ironhide wasn't angry but she feared Optimus and Ratchet's reactions.

Once at the base Alana was carried over to the med-bay where she peeled off her coat and boots and replaced them with her runners. Ratchet took one look at Alana's bloody face and immediately went into doctor mode. He took her in his hands and set her on the table.

"What happened this time, Alana?" Ratchet asked as he got out the antibiotics and band-aids.

Alana began to fiddle with the bottom of her shirt, she looked down and mumbled "Got in a fight"

"What? Why?" Ratchet activated his holoform and began to fix up her small cuts.

"Mabel made me angry" Alana said as a band-aid was put on her forehead.

"What did she do?" Ratchet asked as he dabbed at her split lip.

"She took my hat and stepped on it…" Alana said "And…" she bit on her bottom lip.

"And…" Ratchet urged her on.

"She called you dumb" Alana said. "I didn't mean to say your name at school, it's just that I forgot and…." She pulled out of Ratchets grasp and looked down.

Ratchet frowned "Why did she say I was dumb?"

Alana shrugged "She said your name was weird"

Ratchet looked appalled "My name is weird! Well what sort of a name is Mabel?"

Alana giggled and laughed "I dunno" she said lifting her shoulders.

Ratchet gave her a stern look "so you hit her"

Alana nodded "Lots!" she told him.

Ratchet would have laughed but he knew that this wasn't the most appropriate time, "Now Alana you shouldn't fight"

Alana looked down "I know… but she made me so angry!" Alana growled.

It was then Optimus walked in, he gave Alana a disappointed look which made her curl up a little. She bowed her head and set a very sorry face.

"I'm sorry Optimus" She said.

Optimus knelt down "Ironhide told me what happened" he said. "You attacked a fellow student"

Alana nodded sadly "I know" she said.

"Do you think she deserved it?" Optimus asked.

Alana shook her head "no…" she mumbled.

"Are you going to apologize?" Optimus asked.

Alana shook her head "No…" she said again.

Optimus let out a sound which sounded like a sigh "Come on Alana" He picked her up, "Lets take a walk"


	12. Chapter 12

Optimus brought Alana to her room and told her to get dressed for outside. Alana wondering what he was up to complied with out question and pulled on her boots and coat. Once she had on her things Optimus picked her up and took her outside, as he walked past the med bay Alana gave one last glance towards the door where Ironhide and Ratchet were sticking out their heads looking at her nervously. Optimus ignored them and walked outside where the frigid air came to greet them. Alana shivered and tried to catch Optimus' optic, but he looked straight ahead and trudged through the snow.

Optimus walked until they were a good ways away from the base, once he had found a clearing where he could sit down did he stop. Silently he sat down and made himself comfortable in the snow, he leaned against a tree and set Alana down on the ground in front of him. He crossed his arms and looked at her intently.

"Tell me what happened" he said.

Alana frowned "But you said Ironhide told you what happened…"

"I know Alana" Optimus sighed "I want to hear you tell it" he said.

"Oh…" Alana shrugged "Ok." She paused and frowned, she wasn't sure how to start.

"Why did you hit Mabel?" Optimus asked trying to give her a place to start.

"She took my hat!" Alana told him.

"So you hit her just because she took your hat?" Optimus asked.

"No…" Alana shook her head.

"What else happened to make you so angry?" Optimus asked.

Alana took in a deep breath "She called Ratchet stupid, and she ignored me when I asked her to get off my scarf, and she threw snowballs at me, and she brought in a cooler show and tell gift, and I always get blamed for what she does!" she ended on an angry yell, her fists were at her side. Alana felt the need to kick something, so she aimed a kick at the snow and watched as it flew in the air. Pleased with the results she kicked the snow again. Optimus watched the small girl, he made no move to stop her venting knowing she needed it.

After a moment she sat down in a huff and looked up at him with angry eyes, "I hate Mabel!" she told him.

Optimus frowned "Hate is a strong word" he said.

Alan looked shocked for a moment "I thought only mom's said that sort of stuff" she said thoughtfully.

Optimus frowned "Who told you that?" he asked.

"David. His mom tells him that stuff" Alana told him. She tilted her head "He says I can come over sometime" she said in an after thought.

Optimus smiled "It's great that you made a friend Alana, but this isn't what we are here to talk about" he said.

Alana sighed, "I know…" she murmured.

"Lets start with you telling her about Ratchet" Optimus said.

Alana shook her head "No!" she shouted trying to defend herself "I didn't tell her about Ratchet, I just said his name" she told him "I swear! I didn't talk about you guys! I swear!"

Optimus held up his hand "Calm down Alana" he said gently. Alana took a few heaving breaths but managed to get her temper under control, she put her hands on her head and looked up at Optimus. "I believe you didn't say anything about us and I am grateful for that, but you have to understand that you could have put yourself and us in danger"

Alana moaned "I'm sorry Optimus. I won't ever do it again! I promise!"

Optimus nodded accepting her apology "Don't worry Alana" he suddenly felt compelled to comfort her so he leaned forward and picked her up. He cradled her against his chest and she gave off a great big sigh. "Now what about that show and tell thing?" Optimus asked. "What is show and tell?" he asked in an after thought.

Alana giggled and began her explanation "Show and tell is 'when you bring in an item which means something to you' Miss S said that" she said.

"I see" Optimus said. "And what did Mabel bring?" he asked.

"Her puppy Oliver" Alana said grumpily. She gave off a yawn before talking again "He gots really soft fur and his nose is really wet. Oliver likes to give kisses" Alana said.

Optimus frowned "Why did this make you angry?" he asked thinking that a dog was a strange thing to get mad over.

"Her show and tell item is better than mine" Alana said.

"Did the class think the dog was better too?" Optimus asked.

"I didn't show my item. I lied… Said I forgot it" Alana told him. "I'm sorry for lying" she said after a moments pause.

"Optimus frowned "Why did you say you forgot it?" he asked utterly confused.

"Because Mabel's was better than mine" Alana told him.

"How do you know that?" Optimus asked "The class didn't even get to see it, just because the class reacted strongly to her item doesn't mean they wouldn't react to yours just the same."

Alana blinked a few times "huh?" she said.

Optimus sighed "You can't say that hers was better" he told her.

"But it is" she protested.

"How do you know that? You didn't give the class a chance to see it"

"I just know" Alana told him stubbornly.

Optimus then realized something "What were you going to show the class anyway Alana?"

Alana shook her head "It's dumb" she told him.

"Would it have been dumb if Mabel hadn't brought in her dog?" Optimus asked.

Alana shrugged and yawned again "Dunno" she said sleepily, the day was catching up with her.

Optimus looked at the small sleep deprived child in his hand, with a soft smile he stroked her back, "Sleep Alana" he said- and Alana did just that.

Optimus walked back into the base and tucked Alana into bed, he was thankful it was weekend, this way Alana could sleep in. He was about to walk out when he saw her backpack. He knew her show and tell item was still in there and he curiously picked it up and walked out of her room. He made his way to the lounge where he saw Ratchet, Ironhide and Bumblebee. They were lazing about watching NASCAR, but then he came in the T.V was turned off and all headed were aimed at him. Optimus looked at them with an amused look.

"She's sleeping" he told them.

"That's good" Ratchet said, "She was up all night working on something" he said.

"What was she working on?" Bumblebee asked.

Optimus looked down at the backpack in his hands "Her show and tell item" he said.

"What's show and tell?" Ironhide asked. Optimus explained and they listened.

"So what did the class think of her item?" Ratchet asked.

"She didn't show it to them" Optimus said sitting down on a chair next to Ironhide.

"What! Why not?" Bumblebee frowned.

"She didn't think it was good enough" Optimus said.

"What was it?" Ratchet asked.

"Lets find out" Optimus said, he expertly unzipped the backpack with his large fingers and brought out a small bundled blanket.

"Is that it?" Bumblebee asked.

"No, she just wrapped it up with the blanket" Ratchet told him giving him a light shove. The backpack was put down and the blanket was carefully unwrapped.

Ironhide let out a low whistle "Damn that girl is good with LEGO" he said.

Ratchet smiled "And she thought it wasn't good" he let out a laugh. "She could sell that and make millions" he said. Optimus just stared at the creation with a look of shock; there in his hand was a miniature version of himself. Alana hadn't even used a reference and it looked extremely accurate. After a moment he broke out into a smile, he looked up and saw the others staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

Ironhide frowned "How come she made you?" he asked.

Ratchet also frowned "I wonder if I can get her to make one of me" he said thoughtfully.

Optimus let out a low laugh "Jealous?" he asked.

Bumblebee nodded "Very… I've always wanted my own action figure" he said. Optimus laughed again, he then began to wrap up the LEGO creation of him with the blanket and placed it carefully back into the backpack. The Autobots knew it was her creation and she could do with it as she pleased, if it was her decision to give it to Optimus then she would.

The backpack was placed back in Alana's room and everyone settled down for the night. Had anyone looked outside they would have seen a single falling star.

The next morning Alana got up later then usual but the sleep in had improved her mood; she was happy again and seemed to have forgotten her fight with Mabel. She had walked into the kitchen cheerily and had begun to make herself some toaster waffles. She was humming to herself while she got out a plate, fork knife and most importantly the maple syrup. Once she had it set up Fireflight had walked in.

"Ooh! What are you doing Alana?" he asked crouching down.

"Making breakfast" Alana heard the pop of the toaster signaling it was done and she got out her toaster waffles and placed them on her plate.

"Fascinating" Fireflight said as he watched the young girl pile on the maple syrup.

Alana looked up and regarded him thoughtfully "do you want to try some?" she asked.

Fireflight nodded eagerly "Please" he said.

Alana gestured towards her toaster waffle "turn on your holoform and try it" she told him. Fireflight did as he was told and activated his holoform, he then moved to sit in front of her. Alana used her fork and knife to cut away a piece of the waffle and handed the fork to him. Fireflight studied it for a moment and then popped it into his mouth.

"Hey!" he said after a moment "That's really good…" he stared at his fork and then at the waffle and then moved his gaze over to Alana, his eyes pleading. Alana caught in and pushed the plate towards him and went off to make herself another waffle. Fireflight ate the waffle ravenously and was finished it just as Alana had put another waffle in the toaster. She took one look at his hungry expression and put another waffle in the other slot of the toaster.

They ate breakfast together, Alana had to defend her waffle against Fireflight's prying fork but she managed to get two down. After that she offered him some orange juice and he drank the whole bottle.

"Amazing!" he said as he threw the empty orange juice container over his shoulder "You humans have really tasty fuel"

"Fuel?" Alana tilted her head "Don't you mean food?"

"Yeah that" Fireflight waved his hand and opened the fridge. After a moment he pulled out an egg he studied it for a moment and then bit on it. Alana watched disgusted as he retched up the egg "Ewww!" Fireflight spat on the floor. "Gross!" he threw the remains of the egg on the floor. Alana sat herself on the kitchen table and watched the show. After the egg Fireflight found the carrots, he took one out of the bag and bit down on it. He chewed, "Yum" he bit down on another carrot "Crunchy!" he said happily. He studied the remains of the carrot he had bitten into "Orange" he said. After a moment he was through with the carrots as well, he threw them over his shoulder and Alana caught the bag. She dug her hand into it and dug out a carrot and bit into it.

Next Fireflight found the butter, he unwrapped it and bit into the yellowish mass. He chewed for a moment and tilted his head "Mmm" he said. Alana watched as he took another bite of the slab of butter.

"Try the cheese" Alana told him.

"Ok!" the butter was dropped to the floor and Fireflight dug around for the cheese, he found it and tried it as well. "Good" he said through a mouthful of cheese.

Alana nodded "Yup" she said as she ate another carrot. Fireflight was digging through the fridge again when Sam came in, he was wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of boxers, and he looked like he was just out of bed.

"Morning, Alana" Sam took a seat next to her on the table. He took a carrot and regarded Fireflight with sleepy eyes. "What's Fireflight doing?" he asked munching on the carrot.

"He's trying food" Alana told him gesturing to the mass of food on the floor.

Sam snorted "That's healthy food" he said "Fireflight if you want real food go into the freezer and grab a tub of ice-cream"

"Ice-cream!" Alana nodded "That's gooood!" she told him.

"Ok!" Fireflight opened the freezer and found the ice-cream, he pried of the lid and stuck his hand into the ice-cream and brought out a bunch. He licked his hand and his eyes widened at the taste "Ice-cream…" he said its name in a half whisper, like he was in awe.

Sam nodded approvingly of Fireflight's reaction "see" he said "Now that is food"

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Ratchet's voice suddenly came from the door, he sounded surprised. He stepped in and looked at the mess on the floor "What the hell happened?" he asked angrily.

Sam pointed to Fireflight and Alana smiled "Fireflight is trying food, that's what the hell is happening" she told him.

Ratchet frowned "Don't say that Alana." He said sternly.

"But you said it" Alana told him.

"I know and that was bad, I'm not going to say it again" Ratchet told her, he sounded frustrated.

Alana sighed, and pouted "no fun" she said.

Sam nudged her "Pass me a carrot" he said. Alana did as she was told and helped herself to one as well. Then the two humans sat back and watched as Ratchet turned to face Fireflight, the annoyance clear on his face.

"Fireflight…" Ratchet said trying to remain civil, the kitchen was a mess and the food was scattered all over the floor, it was probably no good anymore.

Fireflight's holoform turned to look at him, his face was smeared with the Thousand Island ranch dressing he had been sampling, he broke out into a smile "Hey Ratchet" his holoform dissolved out of sight and his robot body came back to life. "This human fuel is really great, have you tried it?" he asked excitedly.

Ratchet looked at him blankly and then growled "You…" Ratchet shook his head growled again "You ruined most of the food!" he half yelled.

"I was just trying some…" Fireflight said sounding somewhat sad.

"Yeah well your sampling got rid of most of our food supplies!" Ratchet yelled. Sam sniggered and Ratchet turned to him "You!" he shouted and Sam cowered "You should have stopped him! You're a responsible human; you could have stopped him but no! You just had to sit back and watch!"

Sam stared at him with narrowed eyes "my fault!" he shouted.

"Yeah you!" Ratchet said.

"Well you know what-" Sam was cut off as Ironhide entered the room.

"What's going on?" he asked. They all reacted simultaneously, Ratchet pointed to Fireflight and Sam pointed to Ratchet, and Fireflight who felt the need to point at someone as well pointed at Sam; meanwhile Alana munched on her carrots happily.

Then together they shouted "him!"

Ratchet growled "Fireflight at most of the food!" he shouted "Look at the mess he made!"

Sam was next to shout "Sure Fireflight made a mess but Ratchet was being all pissy and blamed me!" he yelled "Not my fault man!"

Fireflight waited for a moment and Ironhide looked at him expectantly. Fireflight shrugged and said "I just felt like pointing at Sam, though he did recommend that I eat the ice-cream" he said. "It was really good!"

"See!" Ratchet shouted.

Ironhide frowned, he then pointed to Ratchet "You, lighten up" he pointed to Sam "you, big trouble" he then pointed to Fireflight "You, go outside" Fireflight complied and snuck past the group and walked outside.

Once Fireflight was out Ironhide gave them a smile, "Ok," he said "Get cleaning" he looked pointedly at human and robot.

Ratchet and Sam looked outraged "What!"

Ironhide shrugged "Come on, Fireflight couldn't clean this up and you two seem like the perfect ones for the job" he said with a mischievous smile.

Sam growled but did as he was told, he got up from the table and began to pick up the half eaten food and put it in the garbage. Ratchet sighed and closed the fridge and began to help as well. Alana watched them for a moment and then she saw the discarded container of ice-cream which was still filled with steadily melting ice-cream. With a small smile she got off the table and grabbed it. She was about to dig in when Ironhide's voice stopped her.

"And what are you doing missy?" Ironhide asked.

Alana smiled her best smile "Eating ice-cream!" She told him.

"I don't think so" Ironhide took the bucket and put it in the garbage, "It's only nine in the morning" he told her.

"So?" Alana asked looking at the ice-cream in the garbage sadly.

"Did you have breakfast yet?" Ironhide asked.

"Yup!" Alana told him proudly "Waffles" she held up two of her fingers and beamed up at him "Two!" she told him.

Ironhide nodded in approval "Alright then. You go get dressed" he gave her a small nudge and Alana made her way towards the exit and left for her room.

Alana chose a pair of army pants and a heavy hoodie which was way to big for her the end reached her knees and the hood when on hung at her nose. After she gave her curly brown hair a quick brush she stuck on her hat and began to brush her teeth. Then she pulled on her runners and walked outside, and walked into Sam's legs.

"Woah, steady Alana" Sam had reacted quickly bending down to grab her shoulders before she stumbled backwards.

"Sorry Sam…" Alana said once she was steady again.

Sam shrugged :its no big" he told her.

Alana nodded "Kay!" she was about to walk away but paused and tilted her head all the way up so that she could look at Sam. "What are we doing today?" she asked.

Sam frowned "dunno" he said "It's my day off for work." He knelt down and gave her a smile "What say you and me go and hit the movie rental store grab a bunch of flicks and watch them back here at the base while we gorge ourselves with popcorn and pop?" he asked.

Alana's eyes went wide with the prospect and she felt like cheering but she wanted to try something that she had seen some of the boys do at school, so she gave him a thumb's up and said "Duuude!"

Sam threw back his head and laughed "Alrighty then just let me get changed and we can get Bumblebee to drive us"

"Ok!" Alana nodded enthusiastically.

"You go get Bee and I'll meet you at the front" Sam told her, he stood up and gave her head an affectionate pat and headed for his room.

Alana then turned to the task at hand, finding Bumblebee. It wasn't that hard, he was in the lounge watching TV looking bored. When Alana came in his dull blue optics lightened a bit at the possible prospect of entertainment from Alana.

"Hey Alana…" he said sitting up from his position on the couch.

Alana waved up at him and gave him a big toothed grin "Bumblebee!" she said excitedly "Guess what!" she giggled.

"What?" Bumblebee asked, he held out his hand and the little girl climbed on.

"Guess!" she laughed.

"You painted Ratchet pink?" Bumblebee asked.

"Nooo!" Alana shook her head her brown hair flying all over the place.

"You have discovered a rare breed of dog and have decided to name it after me?" Bumblebee asked.

"Nooo!" Alana said again.

"You made me an action figure?" he asked hopefully.

"Nooo!" Alana laughed "Your not good at the game Bumblebee" she told him somberly.

Bumblebee sighed dramatically "I know" he said, he put the beck of his hand against his forehead in what Alana knew was a very dramatic pose "Its my curse" he said. Alana laughed and Bumblebee gave off a small titter of a laugh. "So what do you want to tell me?" he asked.

"Wellll…." Alana said "Me and Sam wanna go to the movie rental store so that we can get lots of movies and watch them here while we eat popcorn and pop!" she told him "You need to drive us" she said.

Bumblebee nodded "sure" he said "Sound like fun. I wanna pick a few movies too" he said.

"Yay!" Alana pumped a fist into the air. Bumblebee shut off the TV and put Alana on his shoulder, he then walked out and found Sam waiting for them at the entrance. Bumblebee transformed and then they headed off towards the movie store.

Once there Sam, Bumblebee and Alana went loose they browsed taking all the time they needed. Alana wound her way down an aisle filled with many movie covers. She saw one that looked interesting and walked towards it.

She sounded the name of the movie out loud, "Ro… bots" she said. she immediately liked the name knowing it had something to do with robots made her want to watch it, so she picked it off the shelve and continued her way down to look at other movies. She found another one and sounded it out loud again "I… Ro…. Bot!" she giggled at the prospect of finding another movie that had to do with robots and plucked it off the shelve.

She walked down another aisle and saw a cover with a robot on it, interested she saw that there was a boxy looking robot and he was holding a plant. "Wa…ll-…e?" she frowned, well it had a robot on the front it had to be interesting. After five minutes Alana had a good stack of movies, Sam had an armful as did Bumblebee, Sam regarded their piles of movies and grinned,

"I don't think we will have any plans for sleeping this weekend" he said. they ran their movies up to the store clerk and once their rented movies were put into bags they quickly rushed back home eager to begin the movie fest.

Once there they got into a fight over which movie they were to watch first. Bumblebee had a Star Trek movie while Sam held onto Ghost Rider and Alana held a Bionicle movie.

Bumblebee was shaking his head at Sam "Look its Star Trek, you can't beat Star Trek"

Sam shook his head "But the special effects are so cheesy!" he groaned "Skull-man from hell is so much better!" he insisted. Alana watched as the two argued, and sensing no end to the argument she took things into her own hands. Quietly she turned on the TV and the D.V.D machine. Then she popped in her Bionicle movie and pressed play. Bumblebee and Sam only realized that neither of their picks were going to go fist when the heard the beginnings of a movie. They both sighed and sat down on the couch conceding defeat.

After the first movie was done Alana went off to make popcorn while Bumblebee and Sam argued over which movie was to be watched next. They were still going strong when Alana came back with a tray filled with popcorn and drinks, she set it down and looked at Autobot and human with her hands on her hips shaking her head.

"Do rock paper scissors" she told them after a moment.

"Huh?" Sam and Bumblebee turned their head to look at her.

"Rock paper scissors!" she repeated "do it" she insisted.

Sam bit his bottom lip "Winner gets to choose next movie" he said.

"Agreed" Bumblebee nodded. They held out their fists and after the count of three Bumblebee produced a rock and Sam paper. Sam looked shocked for a moment and then let out a whoop.

"Oh yeah!" he shouted "Who beat a giant robot? Me!" he shouted again.

Bumblebee growled "Just stick the movie in"

Sam paused wishing to rub it in "Wait a moment…." He held up his hand and the room felt silent Bumblebee and Alana watched him expectantly. "I hear the people wanting something" he said. Alana looked around the room, what people? She thought. Bumblebee groaned as Sam threw up his hands and shouted "ME!" Sam did another victory dance and let out another whoop of joy. Bumblebee sat himself down and grabbed Alana he set her on his knee and Sam finally put the movie in.

During the movie Alana tilted her head as Nicholas Cage began to burn up and his skin began to melt away. She 'oohed' when he beat the crap out of the bad guy and at the end she was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of the movie.

"My turn" Bumblebee said happily. He got up and put the Star Trek movie in. It was an old Captain Kirk movie, one about whales. Alana found herself jealous of Spock's ability to lift one eyebrow and look extremely cool doing it. She tried to lift on eyebrow but it was hard. After five minutes she gave up.

After that movie it was Alana's turn again, she choose the I, Robot movie and 'ooohh'ed at Sunny when he joined with Detective Spooner and beat up all of the other Robots. By the time it was Sam's turn Ironhide had walked in and joined them. He had taken Alana off Bumblebee's knee and set her on his own as they sat down to watch the Rock in the movie Rundown.

By three in the afternoon the rest of the Autobots had joined them on the couch and together they sat watching Star Wars 3. Alana's favorite bad guy had been Grievous, she had been disappointed that her favorite good guy Obi Wan had killed him though she had enjoyed the movie anyhow.

It was around four in the morning when Sam and Alana finally drifted off to sleep during another one of Bee's Star Trek movies. Alana had wanted to see if the search for Spock had been successful but her heavy eyes would not allow her to watch a moment longer. And so she slept in Ironhide's hand. After the movie the Autbots felt no need to get up and go to their own rooms for the night, it felt nice to just sit there silently observing their humans. After a while Ironhide drifted off into stasis and the others followed suit and the couch group was resting peacefully on the couch unaware of the growing danger right outside of the town of Grand Cache


	13. Chapter 13

If Shockwave had emotion he would have been frustrated, angry and probably would have destroyed half a continent. Luckily for the human race Shockwave regarded his current situation with a blank sort of stare. He had crash landed. The fault was entirely Megatron's of course, Shockwave had concluded. Shockwave had followed Megatron's course to earth after re-adjusting it for his purposes, but as he was nearing earth he realized that the planets gravitational pull was far more intense then himself or Megatron had realized. Unable to do anything Shockwave had fallen many kilometers away from his original destination. And so now he sat in a wet substance which was frozen over. Shockwave was observing the substance which he had identified as ice, or frozen water.

His feet and his bottom were submerged and the water was rapidly refreezing around him. Shockwave pulled himself from the ice and walked his way to the bank where he stepped into the white substance known as snow. He gave his feet a few shakes trying to get the left over ice out of his system. After a few moments he set his foot down and lifted his head to study his surroundings. He saw the river, he saw trees and snow, the only sign of human life that he saw was a rail road. Shockwave scanned it and found that the track if followed south would lead him straight to his destination. Shockwave had originally planned to land right in the town of Grand Cache and begin destroying immediately. Not only would this save time but then he would also be saved from the tiresome task of walking. But now with Megatron's faulty course to earth he was being forced to walk through the snow towards the town.

And so he began to walk, he walked next to the rail road and began the long journey.

Alana and Sam didn't wake up until it was well in the afternoon, Alana was surprised to find herself tucked up nicely in her bed, she wasn't sure how she had got there but all she knew was that she was hungry and she needed food now. So grumbling she got out of bed and noticed that her PJ's were on, she didn't remember putting those on either. With a small shrug she padded barefoot towards the kitchen where Sam was asleep on his plate of toast. His soft snoring seemed to come from the toast which was buttered and pasted with jam. Alana regarded him with an amused expression and then she poked him. When Sam didn't respond she poked him again, but this time harder. Once again there was no response so Alana took in a deep breath and shouted.

"SAM!" she yelled into his ear. Sam was brought out of his peaceful slumber with a small yelp. He jerked up and looked at her, a piece of toast was stuck to his forehead but he didn't seem to notice.

"Wazzgoooinon?" he mumbled. Alana stood up on tiptoes and pulled the piece of toast off his forehead and put it back on his plate. Sam observed the toast with mild surprise, he then shrugged and picked it up off his plate and took a bite out of it.

"Good morning Sam" Alana said happily as she turned away from him and walked over to the fridge. She opened it and viewed its contents, after a few moments she chose some left over subs from a few nights before.

As she settled down Sam shook his head "Ya know, You really need better food than this" Sam said as Alana bit down on a sub "You've never had a breakfast from my mom" he said with a small smile "you haven't had a real breakfast until you've tried some of my mom's pancakes" Sam rubbed his belly in memory of said pancakes and gave his toast another look, with a sigh he dug in.

After breakfast the two humans were planning to go back into the lounge and watch the rest of the movies when Ironhide stopped them.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked putting his foot in front of them.

Sam shrugged "We wanna watch another movie; we gotta finish the ones we brought from the rental store"

Ironhide shook his head "You watched movies for the entire day yesterday, you two need exercise, go outside for a bit"

Sam gaped at him for a moment and then turned his heel "Jeez you sound like my mom" he said.

Ironhide tilted his head "sitting around too much is unhealthy"

Sam whipped around and pointed a finger at him "Mom said that too!"

"Well now your mom's seems to be a smart woman then" Ironhide said.

"Ah but I never listen to my mother" Sam said crossing his arms.

Ironhide shrugged "But you will listen to me"

"Oh yeah!" Sam turned his head away from Ironhide "Says who"

"Says the robot who not only is smarter than you but he can also pummel you into doing what ever he wants" Ironhide told him sweetly.

Sam linked his hands together and leaned in forward, "Sorry mom" he said, Ironhide growled and Sam made a break for it, he turned and dashed over to his room.

Ironhide crossed his arms and grunted in a very male fashion, then he looked down at Alana, "go get dressed for outside" he told her.

"Why?"

"Because you need to go outside" Ironhide told her.

"Why?"

"Because you need exercise" Ironhide said.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't you'll get fat"

"Why?"

"Because you'll be sitting around doing nothing and all that you've eaten is stored away in your body as fat" Ironhide told her smartly, pleased that he knew such things about human anatomy.

"Why?"

Ironhide growled "don't test me Alana" he said.

Alana frowned for a moment thinking about what she was going to say, "Why?" she asked finally.

Ironhide threw up his hands "Why me?" he asked to no one in particular.

Alana frowned again "But I asked why" she said "that's not fair" she told him.

Ironhide grinned at her "Go get your coat on" he said.

"Only my coat?" Alana asked.

Ironhide sighed "and your boots, gloves, snow pants, and hat"

"Ooooh…ok!" Alana ran for her room and Ironhide went to go pester Sam about getting on his snow gear.

Fifteen minutes later both humans were bundled up and thrown outside by Ironhide; he literally tossed them in the snow bank right outside the base. Sam came out of the snow sputtering and spitting.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he yelled as Ironhide chuckled and sat down leaning against the base contentedly.

"You need to cool off" Ironhide said

"Cool off my ass" Sam muttered as he pulled himself from the deep snow. He turned to help Alana. Once she was out she waddled on over to a clear patch of snow and fell on her back. She then proceeded to make a snow angel.

But then after a while making snow angles and patterns in the snow grew boring, she looked up and saw Ironhide arguing with Sam.

"What the heck are you sitting for?" Ironhide asked angrily.

Sam looked up at him from his position on the ground "I feel like it" he told him.

"Well get up and exercise or something, that's what you came out here to do" Ironhide said.

"No" Sam said stubbornly.

"Don't test me" Ironhide said.

"No" Sam said again, and Ironhide growled. He picked up the small human and lightly tossed him back in the snow bank.

Sam's head popped out of the snow a moments later "what the hell man!"

Ironhide just laughed, he then patted the ground next to him and said "come sit here so I can throw you again" Sam muttering curses got up and walked on over to Alana who was watching him with a big smile on her face.

"What?" Sam asked looking at her, Alana just laughed. Sam knelt down and grabbed Alana's shoulders "Okay listen. Here is the deal, we need to get back at Ironhide" Sam said.

"How are we gonna do that?" Alana asked.

Sam grinned "one word… snowball"

Alana frowned "isn't it two words"

"No! Come on Alana we have work to do!" Sam got up and grabbed her hand and led her a ways off in the forest where they began to make their ammo.

Ironhide shrugged as he watched the two humans ran off into the trees- at least they were getting exercise. They needed it. Ironhide had seen them eat up over seven bags of popcorn, four bags of chips, five bottles of Root Beer and still they managed to snack cookies and other small candies. He was surprised that Ratchet hadn't commented on it, but then again Ratchet really did seem captured by the movies that were playing. Ironhide had personally liked those Star Wars movies the best. They had a great story and likable characters, everything, he thought, that a story needed.

Then suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by something hitting the side of his head. He turned it and saw another on coming projectile; unable to react quickly enough Ironhide was rewarded with a snowball to the face.

"Oh yeah!" Sam shouted. "Who hit a giant robot in the face?... Me!" Ironhide growled and made a move to get up when another snowball hit him in the back of the head. He whipped his head around and saw Alana looking up at him with a cute smile. She lifted her hand in it Ironhide saw another ball of snow. She smiled at him sweetly and let loose the snowball. The snowball hit him in the shoulder and Alana prepared to throw another when Ironhide was hit in the back by a snowball from Sam. He felt over powered in his position so Ironhide quickly got to his feet and rushed out of range of the snowballs. He turned around and saw Sam and Alana running for him. "Come back here!" Sam shouted "I must get revenge!" he yelled again.

Alana was laughing as she hurled another snowball in his direction, it fell short and landed at his feet. Ironhide had the gall to laugh at her and she whipped another one at him. That one hit him in the chest. Ironhide made a move to grab the small girl when another snowball hit him in the face.

"Hey!" Ironhide directed his attention towards Sam, who was doing a bit of a victory dance.

"Another ten points!" he yelled happily thoroughly enjoying Ironhide being pelted with snowballs. But what he didn't count on was the massive robots retaliation. His eyes widened as Ironhide began to gather up snow in his big hands. "Ah man" he mumbled as a rain of snow fell on top of him. Alana fell backward on her bottom, she was laughing until tears were running down her face. Sam popped his head out of the pile of snow he was under and scowled. "But victory with within reach!" Sam grumbled, though it showed he didn't take it personally when he smiled.

Ironhide laughed "You know for a human of an adult age you certainly act like a child" he said.

"That's what I get for hanging around with you guys" Sam muttered as he pulled himself from the snow pile.

Ironhide then directed his attention to Alana who was still laughing, with a wide grin on his metallic face he bunch up snow in his hands and let it drop on Alana.

"Hey!" she shouted as she wiggled out from under the snow.

Ironhide put his hands on his hips and leaned down towards her "That's what you get for pelting me with snowballs he told her.

"I wonder…" Said a voice from behind them, Ironhide whipped around and saw Optimus with a large snowball in his hands, "If I were to hit you with this, what would you do?" Optimus asked.

Ironhide backed away from Optimus "Ah come on…" he said weakly "Why are you all teaming up against me?" he asked as Optimus raised his hands and threw the snowball. His aim was on and the massive ball of snow hit Ironhide in the chest with enough force to knock him backwards.

"Ooohh" Alana watched as Ironhide sat up and shook his head, he was scowling; she then turned to Optimus who had a very pleased expression on his face. She gave him a thumb up and he laughed.

Sam was backing away slowly as Ironhide was getting up; he then knelt down and began to build a snowball. Once he had a good sized ball of snow he stood up and faced Optimus.

"Sir you may be my leader but this calls for retaliation" he said as he chucked the ball of snow in the Autobot leader's direction. Optimus side stepped and the snowball grazed his arm and exploded upon contact.

"Woah!" Alana caught some of the falling snow in her hands and laughed as Optimus bent down to gather up some more snow. She turned and saw Ironhide on the run; Optimus followed after him and once again threw a snowball at him. Ironhide was hit on the back and he fell down onto the makings of his snowball. Alana sat down in the snow making her own small snowball and watched as the two robots began to wrestle. As they were doing so Ratchet and Bumblebee came out of the base, they ignored Optimus and Ironhide; Optimus had Ironhide in a headlock and Ironhide was struggling feebly. Ratchet sidestepped a flailing arm and walked on over to Alana, when she saw him she raised the arm that held her snowball and lobbed it at him, it hit his knee and Ratchet looked down at her in surprise.

"What did you do that for?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

"Dunno" Alana said, she inched closer to Ratchets leg and leaned against the cold metal.

Ratchet observed Optimus and Ironhide, Ironhide was tripping Optimus and he was laughing. Ratchet let out a small sigh and looked down at Alana "I suppose you somehow started it" he said, knowing all too well of Alana's ability to start things and leave them.

Alana shook her head "No, Sam did" she said. Ratchet looked over towards Sam who was being thrown into the snow bank yet again by Bumblebee.

"Ah…" Ratchet sounded somewhat amused.

"Ratchet?" Alana threw a small amount of snow into the air and it landed in a pile next to her.

"Yes Alana" Ratchet put his hands on the ground behind him and leaned back.

"When can we finish the movies?" she asked.

Ratchet thought for a moment "I suppose we can watch a few after we go inside" he said. "Then you have to have dinner and get ready for bed, you have school tomorrow" he said.

"School…" Alana groaned.

"It's not so bad" Ratchet said trying to comfort her.

"Mabel is there" Alana growled angrily.

"So what?" Ratchet grinned when eh saw her shocked expression. "Just ignore Mabel and she'll eventually leave you alone" Ratchet said "which reminds me… we need to change the bandages on your arm and face"

"Oh" Alana felt at the bandages with a gloved hand, "Ok"

After another hour of wrestling (which resulted in Optimus' inevitable victory) and snowball fighting (which resulted in Sam being targeted mostly) it came time for everyone to head inside. Alana was in her room taking off all her snow gear, she changed into new clothes consisting of a t-shirt and a pair of loose jeans. Then she walked out to the med-lab where Ratchet quickly changed her bandages. Her burns were healing and Alana thought the marks that were on her face looked cool. She took off the bandage from her forehead and saw that Mabel's scratch was healing nicely. Ratchet then set her down on the ground and gave her a small push.

"Go start a movie, we'll come watch soon" he told her.

"Ok!" Alana gave him a little salute and rushed off to the lounge where a pile of movies lay waiting. She picked the Wall-e movie and sat down to watch. Fifteen minutes later everyone was sitting on the couch and watching with her.

They managed to watch three movies when it came time for dinner, Alana ate her way through the rest of the subs and climbed into bed thoroughly satisfied.

The next morning she was awoken by Bumblebee, he poked her softly in the side and she sat up yelling in surprise. She looked up at him with tired eyes for a moment and then flopped back down onto her pillow and was asleep- just like that. Bumblebee gave an impatient whine.

"Come on Alana school" he said as he pulled the covers away from her. When she didn't respond he tried poking her in the side once again but she didn't respond to that either. Sam happened to be walking by Alana's room, he was getting ready for work but when he noticed Alana's refusal to get up he went on over to Bumblebee. He pulled at his collar and made a coughing noise.

Bumblebee looked over at him and Sam smiled, he gestured towards Alana "May I?" he asked.

"Sure" Bumblebee shrugged. Sam grinned and backed up a few steps, and then took a running jump at the bed. He landed on top of Alana and began to bounce on her,

"Wake up Alana!" he shouted and she moaned and turned over.

"No school" she mumbled "sick"

"No your not!" Sam laughed as he bent down and began to tickle the small girl mercilessly.

"No!" Alana shrieked in her laughter, she struggled to get away from him and fell off the bed to land in a heap on the floor. Sam brushed some invisible dust off his shirt and jumped off the bed.

"I believe my work is done" he said as he walked out the door. Bumblebee helped Alana up and told her to go get dressed. She did so dressing in her loose jeans and a hoodie. Once she had her hat on she walked on over to the kitchen and began to prepare her breakfast.

Once she was ready she picked up her backpack and looked at it for a moment remembering that her show and tell item was still in it. She frowned for a moment and then took it out.

"Alana!" Ironhide called "Time for school!"

"Coming!" Alana called back as she walked on over Optimus' closed door. She placed the wrapped up LEGO creation in front of it and ran over to the entrance.

When Optimus came out of his room later that day he noticed the familiar looking package and with a small smile picked it up and unwrapped it. He placed the LEGO version of himself on his desk in the room and with a happy smile walked out of his room once more.

Alana was sitting in her classroom working on her newest art project. They were told they had to draw their most favorite thing to do. Alana had known exactly what it was that she loved most, and that was to hang out with her family- but since she couldn't draw them she made do with the subject of playing with LEGO. She drew herself in her room and LEGO all around her. Beside her David was drawing himself playing with his action figures. She recognized one as Spider-man but the others she couldn't make out. In front of her Bret and Harry were drawing very similar things- video games.

The class room was filled with the chatter of small students and the sound of pencils and markers being used. All seemed well when suddenly a large rumble from outside caused the entire class to shake. Everyone paused what they were doing to look up towards the window, a silence fell over the class. Most children looked interested but when the rumble came again their curious looks vanished and the curled up in their seats looking scared. The classroom shook causing pens and pencils to roll off desks making small clattering noises once they hit the ground. The third time the rumble came the walls shook and papers flapped in an invisible wind. Miss S got up and walked towards the window her steps cautious. Alana curious, felt the need to do the same. Once at the window Alana saw a dark tall mechanical figure she did not recognize. She breathed out in awe as the figure turned towards their school and pointed a massive gun towards the entrance of the school. His cannon glowed and a shot was fired. Alana just had time to duck as the glass of the window exploded.

Ratchet skidded to a halt in front of the monitor room; he had heard beeping and went to check it out. After pressing a few buttons he looked up at the screen. It only took a few moments for him to figure out what was happening.

"No!" he shouted when he saw what was happening. He backed away from the computer and turned his head to the door as Optimus and the others came to a halt in front of it. "We have to get to town!" he shouted pointing towards the screen. All optics turned to the screen and like Ratchet it didn't take long for them to figure out what was going on.

"Alana…" Ironhide let out a low moan of despair.

On the screen, it showed a map and on the Map a Decepticon symbol was standing right next to Alana's school.


	14. Chapter 14

Alana was crouched down amidst the broken glass; none of it had hurt her which was a lucky break. She stayed crouched for a moment making sure that the danger was gone, after a while she stood up again and peered out of the window. The massive machine was destroying a house next to the school. She narrowed her eyes and tried to get a closer look at it, she was looking for the familiar red flash of the Autobot signet. When she saw nothing of the sort she knew immediately it was not a friendly robot. She did some quick thinking and decided she would do what she knew Optimus would do- and that was get her classmates to safety.

She whipped around and saw a destroyed classroom, the blast had knocked over a few nearby desks and kids were hiding at the end of the class room. All were looking at her wide eyed, Alana regarded them for a moment and then turned her head to look at Miss S. Miss S it seemed had been knocked out from the blast, Alana saw no blood. She knelt down and took a hold of one of Miss S' arms and tried to pull her to the back of the classroom. When she found that Miss S was heavier than she looked Alana sought help.

"David" she called to him softly, "help" she hissed. She tried once again to pull her teacher. When she saw that David wasn't moving to help her she tried again "David" she called again. David looked at her through his dust covered glasses and when Alana gestured towards Miss S he set a determined expression and crawled forward to help Alana.

When Bret and Harry saw what David was doing they too looked determined and also crawled to help their friends Alana and David. Once at the body of Miss S Bret and Alana grabbed an arm while Harry and David pulled at her other. Between the four of them they were able to pull their teacher away from the window to the back of the classroom. Once Alana made sure that their teacher was comfortable, then she crept up to the window again and saw that the bad robot had moved on. She watched it for a long while to make sure that it wasn't coming back and then rushed on over to her backpack.

The Autobots had given her a number she could call for such situations, they had put the number in her agenda along with Sam's, and she planned to call both numbers. Quickly she flipped her agenda open and began flipping to the right page when a hand was put on her shoulder. Gasping she whipped around only to see it was David.

"What are you doing?" David asked, he crouched down next to her.

"Calling for help" Alana told him as she found the right page. She crawled over to the phone and pulled it off the desk into her waiting lap. She pulled the phone of the hook and began to dial the number. It rang once and then was picked up.

"Alana?" Ratchet's voice came through the speaker. He sounded stressed and scared.

"Ratchet" Alana said his name in greeting.

"Thank Primus!" he sounded relived "Alana are you ok?" he asked; the stress was back.

Alana nodded but then remembered that Ratchet couldn't see her "Yup, I'm fine but Miss S…" she trailed off not sure of Miss S' condition.

Ratchet immediately went into doctor mode "Alana, I want you to listen to me very carefully, ok?"

"Ok" Alana took in a deep breath and listened.

"We are all coming, We'll be there soon, Ok" he didn't wait for her to answer "I need you to stay on the phone with me"

"Ok" Alana said.

"Good girl" Ratchet said "Now you're going to have to answer some questions for me. Is anyone other than Miss S hurt?" Ratchet asked.

Alana glanced on over to her classmates "Uh, Lucy's cheeks is bleeding" She said "And… Ricky is bleeding too" she said after a moment.

"Ok, is David there with you?" Ratchet asked.

"Yup" Alana said.

"Good, tell him to get some scissors" Ratchet instructed her.

"Ok" Alana looked up at David "David" He glanced at her when his name was called "Go get scissors" she told him. David nodded and did as he was told. Moments later he came back with the scissors. "Got them" she told Ratchet.

"Good" Ratchet said "Now Alana I want you to cut into the bottom part of your jean leg"

"Why?" Alana asked.

"Your going to bandage Ricky with this" Ratchet said.

"Oh, ok" Alana began to cut into the fabric of her jeans until she figured she had a good amount of fabric off her jean. Then by following instructions she and David were able to bandage Ricky's bleeding arm. Next they moved onto Lucy to whom they cleaned the wound and taped a folded over tissue to.

Ratchet kept the two children busy, busy enough not to notice the screams which were coming from outside, or the dull boom that would resonate when ever something was blown up. The Autobots were close now, driving at high speeds they were almost at the small town. From their position they could already see quite a bit of damage, smoke was coming from one building and another building had lost half of its siding, and the rest… well it seemed as if the rest had never even been there at all. There were faint craters in the earth to signify that a house had once stood there. And then beyond all of the destruction stood the destructor himself. Optimus had recognized him immediately.

"Be advised," he said "Its Shockwave"

"That slagger…" Ironhide growled "If he has hurt Alana I'll tear him to pieces" they had entered the destruction and continued to drive steadily towards Shockwave.

Alana had made sure that Miss S was safe, she had lifted her teachers head onto and elevated surface and had made sure she was breathing alright. But now as the class rumbled again from another after shock from the bad robot did she then begin to feel the first pangs of real fear. The fear she had felt before was like when one had watched a scary movie and was just experiencing the after shock. But now Alana felt true gut wrenching fear as another rumble came again. Knowing it would be her duty to keep an eye out on the robot she shakily crawled over to the window and peered out of it. The robot was making his way towards her again. His massive arm powered gun would flare up rapidly and then shot destroying a house or any other building. Occasionally he would aim at a human but the robot stuck mostly to buildings.

Then Alana saw them, her Autobots. They drove with Optimus leading them, Ironhide flanked his left and Ratchet on his right and Bumblebee drove behind them. And then they were no longer cars. Simultaneously all of them began to transform, metal shifted and limbs began to appear. Moments later they were the Autobots; they wasted no time with words. Shockwave had endangered Alana and in their opinion he deserved nothing but death.

It was Optimus who landed the first blow, with a solid punch to Shockwave's gut. The mech let out a low groaning sound and retaliated with a swinging punch of his own. Optimus didn't have enough time to react and was hit on the side of the head, as he stumbled away it was Ironhide who took his place. He landed two shots in on the shoulders and swung a punch before Shockwave could recover from the shots. Reeling back Shockwave managed to point his gun in the direction of Ironhide, and he mentally pulled the trigger.

Alana tightened her grip on the broken window sill, some of the remaining glass cut into her palms but she didn't notice. She heard a shot go off and let out a shriek when she saw Ironhide fall back.

"Ironhide!" she shouted, fear fogging her brain she leaned on her hand and the broken glass cut in even more. It was like slow motion watching Ironhide fall onto his backside, flames leaping from his chest. She watched his body hit the ground hard and lay still. "Ironhide!" She screamed again. Back in the classroom the students watched her with frightened expressions. Who was Ironhide? David's curiously got the better of him and he crawled next to Alana and peeked out of the window. He saw a large black robot laying on the ground, his gaze then shifted to the other robots who were standing, he saw a large red and blue robot bring out a glowing sword out of his hand and slice it through the other robots arms. A yellow bot then shot him with a hand gun while another yellow robot crept up from behind the purple robot and sliced him with a whirring saw.

"Woah…" he breathed.

"Ironhide!" Alana yelled "Get up!" she yelled. When Ironhide did not comply Alana let fear cloud her brain and did something incredibly stupid. She began to hoist herself over the window and was halfway out when David grabbed her.

"Alana!" he hissed "What are you doing?"

Alana pointed to the black robot "Ironhide" she said weakly, tears were running down her face.

"Stay here!" David told her "It's dangerous"

"No…" Alana moaned she shook her head franticly.

"Stay" David said trying his best to keep a hold on her wrist.

"No!" Alana shouted, she pulled violently out of his grasp and threw herself from the window. She landed in a heap on the ground and shakily got to her feet.

"Alana!" David shouted "Come back!" Alana ignored him and began to run towards Ironhide.

Her small legs carried her far and soon she was near his head, "Ironhide!" she shouted "Get up!" she cried. She put her bloody hands on one of his shoulders and pushed. "Get up!" she wailed.

Shockwave was injured to a point where he was starting to conclude that he might have to run away. With half an arm missing and many important wires cut he was just about to turn and run away when he heard a shout.

"Ironhide!" It was a small human child's voice. Dodging another blow from Ratchet he swung a punch at Optimus and slowly made his way to the black robot which was down. He saw the small girl crying and trying to revive Ironhide. He saw in the act of bending down and grabbing her when Ironhide's hand shot up and grabbed his arm.

"I don't think so" he growled. As he held onto Shockwave, a cannon came out of his arm, it was aimed directly at his spark. Shockwave attempted to pull away but Ironhide had a good grip, and it seemed he wasn't going to let go.

At the same instant that Ironhide fired into point blank range, Optimus stabbed Shockwave through the back. The Purple robots single eye widened into what looked like a shocked look and then his optic flickered and dulled and he collapsed to the ground.

Ironhide shook his head and groaned "I am getting to old for this" he muttered.

"You ok, Ironhide?" Optimus quickly kicked the Decepticon's remains away.

"Sure" Ironhide said as he sat up.

"Ironhide!" Alana called his name as he looked down she hastily hid her hands behind her back.

"Alana…" he gently picked her up around the middle and set her down in his open hand.

Ratchet leaned down and peered at the small girl in Ironhide's hand "are you ok?" he asked.

Alana nodded "Yup" she told him.

"Good." Optimus stood up and regarded Bumblebee "Bumblebee, I think you should pick up Sam"

"Yes sir!" Bumblebee turned around, transformed and drove off.

Optimus turned to Ratchet "Help Ironhide get back to the base and take care of him there. After he is tended to you may take care of our lesser wounds."

Ratchet nodded "What about you sir?" he asked.

"I'm going to bring this piece of scrap back to the base and we are going to try and get some information out of it." he said.

Alana frowned and looked around "Where is Fireflight?" she asked.

Optimus glanced up at the sky "He is making sure that there are no more Decepticon's"

"Oooh, ok!" Alana nodded as she was taken out of Ironhide's hand and put on Ratchet's shoulder. Ratchet then bent down and began to help Ironhide up.

"We should hurry" he said "We don't want any more humans to notice us" Alana looked around and finally noticed people running for the hills.

"What are they running from?" she asked as Ironhide got up, he let out a low groan and then turned his head slightly to see a group of humans heading down a pasture.

"Us" he replied simply.

"Why?" Alana asked.

Ratchet and Ironhide began to walk, "Because they think we are scary" Ratchet told her as they passed a mangled lamp post.

Alana frowned "Your not scary" she said.

Ironhide chuckled as they exited the town premises "your one of the few who thinks we aren't scary" he said.

"But your not!" Alana protested.

They reached the base a while later, Ironhide was led to the med-lab where he was forced to lay down and be inspected by Ratchet. Alana stayed on his shoulder as the medic leaned over Ironhide. Half an hour later, after Ratchet had tinkered and fixed he deemed Ironhide ready. He stood up straight after a moment and helped Ironhide back up.

"Thanks" Ironhide said looking gratefully toward Ratchet.

"It's my job bucket head" Ratchet gave him a shove "now get off my table" he made a motion to give him another shove when he noticed a liquid on Ironhide's shoulder. He quickly scanned it and found it to be blood. He paused and then plucked Alana off his shoulder. "You told me you were ok" he said.

Alana averted her eyes away from his optics and mumbled "I am"

"What's the matter with Alana?" Ironhide had gotten off the table and was staring at her with a worried look "what happened?" Ironhide wasn't sure if he could take it if Alana was injured, he had already been through quite a scare toady and didn't need another one.

"You're bleeding" Ratchet told her "Your blood's on Ironhide's shoulder" Ironhide stared at his shoulder in surprise and Alana began to shuffle her feet in his hand.

"It's a small cut" she told him.

"Show me your hands Alana" Ratchet brought her closer to his face.

"But-"

"Alana show me your hands" Ratchet said it more forcefully this time and the small girl felt she had no choice but to show her bloody hands. "Jeez Alana" Ratchet set the small girl down and activated his holoform, with his big hands he took her wrists and gently forced her to show her hands. His head snapped up towards Ironhide, "Get me a wet cloth" he all but snapped.

Ironhide stared at him for a moments and then rushed off to get the requested item.

As they waited Alana had a question "Ratchet, what's gonna happen to the town?"

"Optimus has some friends coming over to help clean up and cover up" Ratchet said as he scanned once of her hands- she was going to need a lot of bandages.

"Friends?"

"Yup"

"Who?"

"A man by the name of Captain Lennox"

"Oh… I see" Alana paused "is he nice?"

"I believe so" Ratchet said "He had a daughter, a few years older than you I think" Ironhide returned with the wet cloth and Alana's question's ceased as Ratchet pressed the cool cloth to her bloody hands.

"No!" Alana tried to wrench her hands away "Hurts!"

"Alana…" Ratchet tried once again to press the cloth to her hand but she scrambled away from him.

"No!" she cried again, tears flowed down her face.

"Alana, I need to clean the wound" Ratchet tried to move towards the girl but she curled up in a small ball trying to protect her hands from him. Ratchet sighed "Sweetheart…"

"No!" she wailed.

Ratchet glanced up at Ironhide "A little help…" he said. Ironhide nodded and activated his holoform as well. He walked on over to the small girl and picked her up, with one hand he held up her knees and with the other he support her back. She bowed her head and clenched her hands into little fists.

"Alana, you wont get better any other way" he tried to reason with her.

"Then I wont get better" she said stubbornly.

"Aww Alana" Ironhide began to rock her and Ratchet brushed away some hair that had fallen across her cheek.

"No" she said again.

"Alana, I'm going to hold you, ok? And Ratchet is going to clean your cuts" Ironhide told her. He was already setting himself on the cool surface of the table. He positioned Alana in between his legs and pressed her back against his chest, then he wrapped his strong arms around her hand gently forced her to extend her arms so that Ratchet could tend to them. Ratchet crouched in front of her and gently pressed the cloth against her hands. Alana hissed in pain and tried to recoil but Ironhide held her firmly. "It's almost over sweetheart" he said as Alana pushed herself against his chest trying to get away from the paining effects of the cloth. A few minutes later the cleaning was done, Alana relaxed in Ironhide's hold as Ratchet's holoform disappeared and he went off to find Band-Aids.

Ironhide was content to hold his little girl for the moment, she leaned back against him and Ironhide tightened his grip on her. They sat in a content silence until Ratchet came back. As he was bandaging her hands Bumblebee came in carrying Sam, he was sporting a large cut on his forehead and one of his arms looked really twisted.

"Ratchet!" Bumblebee placed Sam on the table gently "fix him!" he glanced down at his charge and his blue optics dimming. Ratchet gave Ironhide the bandages and told him to finish it while he took a look at Sam.

The cut Ratchet knew he could fix easily, it was the same with the arm, he knew what to do and he began to do it. First he scanned Sam's arm and figured out how he would set the break.

"Your lucky" Ratchet said as he took Sam's arm into his strong hands "The bone didn't shatter"

Sam looked down at his arm with gritted teeth "Lucky me." Ratchet gave Sam no warning when he began to set the bone. "HOLY-" Alana's ears were covered as Sam exploded into a steady stream of curses. A few minutes later Sam had his cast setting, he seemed a lot better but he still looked pale. With some effort he turned in his seated position to look on over at Alana who was also sitting. Ironhide's holoform had disappeared and he leaned on the table behind her. "So Alana…." Sam said.

"So…" Alana tilted her head.

"How close were you to the battle?" Sam asked.

"She ran right into it" Ratchet said with a grumpy look.

"You did!" Sam raised his eyebrows and gave Alana a look of awe "Well she's brave" he said.

"No she's-" Ironhide was interrupted by Alana

"How did you break your arm?" Alana asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh the roof of the store that I work at collapsed and caught my arm under it" Sam told her "Hurts like a Bi- uh… I mean like a broken arm" Sam quickly corrected at Ratchet's warning look.

Suddenly Optimus walked in, he was looking at the ground and talking to some one,

"Here we are" Optimus glanced up and saw everyone looking at him "Everyone I'm sure you remember Captain Lennox"

Alana held up her hand "I don't" she said looking at the man. His dark hair was messed up from lack off attention; he had a night's growth of beard on his face. He wore a heavy vest which was filled with all sorts of survival equipment.

"Ah yes, Lennox this is Alana, Alana this is Captain Lennox"


	15. Chapter 15

Captain Lennox stared at Alana for a moment and then turned his head back up to Optimus as if seeking an explanation.

Optimus let out a low sigh and tilted his head "I suppose you want to know why we have a small human girl in our base?"

"Damn right" Lennox said.

Alana gasped "He said damn!" she said sounding somewhat awed, when Lennox gave her a questioning look Alana smiled at him "I bet your daddy tells you not to swear too"

Lennox grinned "he did" he said, he looked back up at Optimus "Explanation if you please"

Optimus nodded "Six years ago Ironhide found a baby whilst on patrol. This baby was Alana"

Lennox glanced over at Ironhide "You _found _the kid?"

"In a bucket" Ironhide told him "I took her back to the base and we took care of her"

Lennox looked shocked "in a bucket?" he repeated.

"Yes" Ironhide said nodding.

"Who puts a baby in a bucket?!" Lennox sounded enraged.

"We don't know" Ratchet shrugged.

"So you decided to keep her…" Lennox frowned.

"You humans obviously didn't seem to want her so we decided she could stay with us" Optimus said.

"I'm sure some other people would have wanted her" Lennox said thoughtfully.

"Well we kept her and that is that" Ironhide said; he sounded defensive "And I don't want to deal with another social worker"

Lennox's head snapped up and he grinned "Social worker" he said sounding amused, "Bet that worker had a surprise"

"The fact is she deemed us responsible enough to take care of her" Ratchet said, he too sounded defensive.

Lennox waved his hand airily "I have no doubt of that… Just as long as she is happy here…" he looked up at Alana. Alana stared back at him not sure what was expected of her.

"Alana…" Optimus said gently.

"Yeah?" Alana tilted her head to look into his blue optics.

"Are you happy here with us?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah!" Alana nodded enthusiastically.

Lennox shrugged "then its fine" he said. He turned back to Optimus "Optimus I gotta get back to my guys so I'll give the report and be on my way."

"Alright" said Optimus, he knelt down and waited for Lennox to start.

"There were over ten buildings completely destroyed, twenty or so with some damage. We have under ten casualties- these Canadians are fast runners, I bet'cha some are in the mountains already. Your appearances are being covered as a military experiment gone wrong so you will be able to stay here until you feel it necessary to go."

Optimus shook his head sadly "if we had gotten there sooner there would have been less destruction…" Lennox held up his hand and the Autobots watched amazed as their leader fell silent at the command of a human.

"Optimus, there would have been even more dead and more destroyed had you not found out about this and told the government. We thank you" he said dutifully. Optimus inclined his head but said nothing.

"What about school?" Alana asked suddenly, she was leaning of the med-lab table.

Lennox frowned for a moment, thinking, and then he said "It'll probably be closed for about a week"

"Yes!" Alana threw her fist into the air, but when the Autobots gave her a sharp look she lowered her hand and gave them a sheepish smile "I-I mean oohh…."

"Better" said Ratchet, he plucked her off the table and put her on his shoulder where she leaned against his cheek and closed her eyes contentedly. Lennox watched them for a moment and then turned back to Optimus and gave him a salute.

"I have to get going now. We have to clean up some of the debris" he said.

Optimus shook his head "We should help" he said.

"No" Lennox told him firmly "I don't need you blowing the cover we already set up." He pointed at everyone in the room including Alana and Sam "Stay hidden" he told them, and then he turned on his heel and walked out.

Optimus let off a low sigh and stood up, "Optimus…" Alana said his name softly but loud enough for him to hear, he turned his head and his blue optics looked at her sadly. "Whats'amatter?" she asked.

Optimus shook his head "nothing" he said, and then like Lennox he turned on his heel and left leaving the rest of the Autobots in silence.

The silence was interrupted by Fireflight rushing up to Ratchet; an angle grinder in his hand, "What does this do?" he asked- not at all affected by his leader's mood like the others were.

Sam rolled his eyes and muttered "Idiot" and Bumblebee snickered.

Alana looked at them for a moment and then suddenly she gasped "Ratchet!" she half shouted "I left my coat at school!" she told him. "And my boots… and my backpack… and my gloves… but not my hat" she declared proudly patting the ball cap which was on her head.

Ratchet sighed "We'll get them tomorrow" he told her. "But now I think everyone need rest"

Sam glanced at Ratchet from the corner of his eyes, he was smiling "Can rest be defined as sitting on the couch watching a movie?" he asked.

Ratchet frowned "We better be watching Star Trek" he said as he made his was out of the med-lab towards the lounge.

In the two weeks that passed, most of the damaged buildings had been fixed by the help of the army and the locals. Destroyed buildings could not be reconstructed until the ground had thawed out a bit, so the locals bunked with others until other arrangements could be made. One of the damaged buildings had been the school, and like Captain Lennox had said school was closed. The school's entrance had taken the most damage and so an alternate entrance had been made so that school could continue as planned. Alana's hope for no more school ended at two weeks four days.

She had gotten up as was her usually way, after much pestering from Ratchet and lots of grumbling on both sides. She got dressed in a nice warm thick sweater which as per usual was too big on her. She wore her jeans and pulled on her neon orange boots; they had gotten all of Alana's things from school the day after the attack. She brushed her hair and forced Ratchet to braid her some pig tails. Then she shoved on her hat and made her way towards the kitchen. There she made herself, Fireflight and Sam some waffles. They ate in a contented silence all three of them enjoyed their waffles and didn't want words to taint their breakfast. When Alana was finished she was walking back to her room when she noticed that Optimus' door was open. She peeked inside and saw Optimus sitting at his desk staring at the LEGO figure she made of him. Silently she walked into the room; she watched as Optimus placed down her creation and sighed.

"If you don't like it I'll take it back" she said.

Optimus didn't seem startled that she was in the room, his head slowly turned to look at her and he gave her a small smile, "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" he said not sounding annoyed at all.

Alana shrugged "I just have to brush my teeth" she told him, "If you don't like it I can take it back" she repeated glancing at her creation, she had a tinge of red in her cheeks and Optimus knew it to be embarrassment.

"Its very well done, I think I'll keep it if you don't mind." he told her as he leaned down and gently picked her up. He set her on the desk next to the LEGO creation and leaned his head on his hand.

"Why are you sad?" Alana asked.

Optimus looked at her a moment and then decided to tell her the truth "I don't think the Autobots did enough to help the humans" he said.

Alana tilted her head and frowned "didn't you save them from the Decepticon?"

"Yes…" Optimus said.

"That's help!" Alana told him.

"But not enough" Optimus said "I promised to protect the human's and I did a very poor job of it"

"Huh?" Alana tilted her head the other way. "Getting rid of a Decepticon is a big thing" she said after a long moment. "Lots more people could've died if you didn't help"

"True…" Optimus allowed. "But…"

"But what?" Alana clasped her hands behind her back and directed her full attention onto Optimus.

"But I feel like we should do more" Optimus said not sure why he was consoling with a little girl.

"Like what?" Alana asked.

"Helping with repairs and building" Optimus told her.

"But Captain Lennox told you no"

"He did"

"Because people can protect themselves too"

It was Optimus' turn to say "huh?"

"You protect people from the Decepticon and they protect themselves after the fight" Alana told him "even" she told him "Fair" she said after a moment.

Optimus stared at his girl "I don't understand" he said.

"People want to prove that they can protect themselves too. Sometimes they don't want help. David never wants me to help him with his math- he wants to do it on his own" Alana said "he wants to show he can do it himself"

Optimus was about to say something when Ironhide poked his head into the room "Alana!" he said sounding rushed "You gotta go brush your teeth!" he bolted into the room and sprinted back out with Alana in his hands "Your gonna be late!" he half shouted as he ran down the hallway to Alana's room.

Optimus walked to his door way and watched as Ironhide came out holding Alana a minute later, she had her backpack on.

"What will you teacher think if you are late!" he scolded her.

Alana crossed her arms "Not my fault!" she whined- and then they were gone, out into the open towards school. Optimus let out a small sigh and leaned against the door frame- he thought back to Alana's words. Humans weren't helpless he reminded himself- they had got on well on their own with out the protection of the Autobots and they would continue to do so with the Autobots on earth. It was a matter of pride and Optimus respected that. He let out a low chuckle.

Ratchet who happened to be walking by heard the Autobot leader's chuckle and curiously he walked over.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Optimus looked at him "not funny," he said "our little girl is growing up"

Ratchet looked at him "what did she do now?" he asked amused at the look on Optimus' face. Optimus looked bewildered.

"She said something very smart which also cheered me up considerably and it helped me understand the human race even more" he told Ratchet.

"Woah…" Ratchet did a double take "what did she say?"

"Something about math" Optimus said with a big grin on his face.

Ratchet didn't bother to ask him to clarify, instead he slugged him on the shoulder "See! I told you it was a good idea to teach her math" he said. Optimus shoved Ratchet in return and the two bots smiled. "Good to have you back sir" Ratchet said. Optimus had been down the full two weeks and four days and nothing had seemed to lighten his mood. But then along came Alana who said a few words and all was right again. Ratchet smiled as he head back towards the med bay- that girl was sure a joy to have around, not one Autobot regretted keeping her; they all loved her to bits.

At school Alana wasn't feeling too loved; the students and teachers avoided her green eyes and no one, not even David would talk to her. She was the psycho girl who had jumped out of the window running head on into the battling death machines. Their classroom had been repaired nicely- the window had yet to be replaced so a wooden board hung in front of it to keep the cold air out. Alana sat in her desk uncomfortably as Harry and Bret stared at her in awe, while David kept shifting his desk farther and farther away, while Miss S talked about their new topic in science- she looked at all of the students except for Alana. Mabel seemed to enjoy Alana's suffering the most, she would glance at Alana and then sneer.

After two periods and a recess of uncomfortable feelings and some bullying Alana finally had enough, and so during her English class she thrust up her hand and Miss S knew she had no choice but to call upon Alana.

"Yes Alana?" she asked.

"I'm not feeling well can I call home?" Alana said, she coughed to show she meant it.

"Yes, yes" Miss S waved her to the door "Go to the office and call home" she said. Alana thanked her and walked to the door and went down the hall and walked towards the makeshift office; the old one was still in repairs. When she reached the desk and made a sound to let the secretary know she was there.

The secretary gave her a smile "Hello dear" She obviously didn't know who Alana was.

"Can I call home? I don't feel so good" Alana said.

"Sure dear" she pushed the phone in Alana's direction and Alana pulled out her agenda which she had brought along. She then dialed the number for emergency's.

Ratchet picked up on the first ring "Alana? What's wrong"

"I don't feel so good" Alana told him "I wanna go home" Ratchet knew immediately that she was not sick, there was nothing in her voice that indicated such a thing. Upon further inspection of her voice he found it was a stressed tone which he knew could not be ignored.

"What's wrong Alana?" he asked again.

"Sick" Alana said "Tummy hurts" She waited for Ratchet to answer.

He sighed, "I'll be there in ten minutes, go get your stuff and I'll pick you up in the office" he said.

"Ok…" Alana tried to remember to put on her sick voice. She hung up the phone and looked up at the teacher, "I'm being picked up" she told her.

"Ok dear, go get your stuff and come back here" Alana did as she was told and walked back into the classroom. A silence fell over the class as they watched her gather up her things and shove them in her backpack. They watched her pull on her coat and boots and watched her leave. By the time Alana was out of the classroom her face was burning red with embarrassment.

She waited for seven minutes exactly in the small makeshift office, then Ratchet's holoform came to free her. He gave the secretary a smile and signed her out. Then he slung her backpack over one of his shoulders and picked her up. She nestled her head into the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around him. Ratchet held her close and said nothing. When he reached his car mode he climbed into the driver's seat with Alana still in his arms. Once her backpack was in the back he settled Alana on his lap and began to stroke her braids which he had put up for her.

After a minute he decided to speak "Your not sick Alana" he said.

"I know" Alana murmured, her eyes were closed and she rested comfortably against his chest.

"Why did you say you were sick then?" Ratchet asked. "If you have a test coming up that you didn't study for your going right back in there" he told her.

Alana shook her head, her eyes still closed "No test" she said. "Just mean people"

"Mean people?" Ratchet frowned "Who was mean to you?"

"Miss S, Mabel, David- everyone!" she cried. Her eyes watered up and a single tear slipped down her cheek to soak into Ratchet's synthetic shirt.

"Why?" Ratchet asked confused.

"Dunno"

Ratchet sighed and pressed his lips on the top of her head, "You can come home today, but just for toady. Tomorrow you have to go back to school" he said.

Alana was going to take what she could get so she nodded "Ok" she said. She sniffed and wiped her nose which was runny. Ratchet gave her a small nudge and she climbed into the passenger seat where the seatbelt wound around her. Then Ratchet's holoform disappeared and his engines started.

Once at the base Ratchet was greeted by Optimus, "Ratchet where have you been I've been looking for you-" he stopped short of what he was saying when he saw Alana in Ratchet's hand. "Alana, why aren't you at school?"

Ratchet answered for her "She needed a break" he said.

"But she had one for two weeks and four days" Optimus said as he followed Ratchet to the med-lab. There Ratchet set Alana down on the table and leaned against it as well. Optimus stood in front of the table and crossed his arms. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Alana, I want you to tell me about everything that everyone did that was mean to you" Ratchet told her softly.

Alana nodded "Ok…" she said "Mabel made fun of me during recess, she called me crazy and she said that her mom told her that she wasn't allowed to talk to me. She also threw snowballs at me, and in class she keeps smiling at me. David doesn't talk to me anymore." Alana tugged on one of her braids she frowned "At recess he kept running away from me. Harry and Bret just kept staring at me. Miss S ignored me a lot. Lucy kept saying I was dis- … dis" Alana frowned "dis… Dis-something, it sounded mean even though I didn't understand" She stopped and looked up at Optimus and Ratchet. Optimus looked confused and Ratchet looked at her sadly.

"Why is everyone treating you so?" he asked.

Alana shrugged "Dunno" she said.

Ratchet stood up and looked at Optimus "I'm giving today to get used to the fact that she will have to deal with that and then tomorrow she goes back to school" he said.

Optimus shook his head "That's not right" he said "Alana has done nothing wrong" he looked over at Alana "Have you?" he asked. When Alana shook her head Optimus frowned, he seemed to be thinking. Both Alana and Ratchet stayed quiet, and then after a moment Optimus looked up from his thoughts. "Alana do you want to go back to school, or do you want to try a different school?" Optimus asked.

"Different school? … What school?" Alana tilted her head questioningly.

"There is a private school just outside of town" Optimus told her.

"What's a private school?" Alana asked.

Ratchet was the one who answered "It's a place much like the school you go to except that you have to wear a uniform and the lessons are harder"

"Ooohhh… What's a uniform?" Alana questioned.

"It's a set of clothes picked out for you to wear" Optimus said, "All of the students have to wear the same thing"

"You mean I have to share my shoes?" Alana wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No you get your own clothes, it's just that your clothes will look the same as the other students" Optimus said with a smile.

"Ooohhh… what do I have to wear?" Alana was just full of questions.

"A skirt, shirt, socks, jacket and shoes" Ratchet said. Alana's eyes widened in horror at the word skirt. In less than a minute she decided that the school she was at now was better than having to wear a skirt.

"I'll stay!" Alana nodded enthusiastically "I'll stay!" she shouted again.

Optimus nodded solemnly and knelt down "Then you won't call home sick tomorrow"

"No…" Alana shook her head.

"Good" Optimus stood up and was about to walk out of the room when Alana's voice stopped him.

"Can I watch some T.V?" she asked.

Optimus laughed his low and booming laugh, "Sure Alana" he said glancing over his shoulder. His optic blinked on and off and Alana winked back at him. "Watch good shows" he told her over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

The next morning Alana got up; she made and defended her waffle from Fireflight so that she could eat it herself. After she brushed her teeth she gather up her things and walked on over to Ironhide who was waiting. He gave her a reassuring smile, Ratchet had caught him up with the events from the day before and he knew that Alana was beginning to regret her decision to go back to school. He gave her head a gentle pat and then transformed and she got in.

Once at school Alana sat in her desk and waited impatiently for school to start. Like normal she was early, the Autobots believed in punctuality and had pounded that into her. And so she sat in her desk gripping the straps of her backpack as David walked into the classroom. His face looked strained when he saw her and he sat next to her stiffly.

Alana stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly she found herself speaking "Why are you angry at me David?" she asked.

David looked at her his cheeks paling "I-I'm not" he said.

"You look angry" Alana said.

David shook his head "not angry" he repeated.

"Oh… ok…" Alana meant to end the conversation there but David began to talk.

"My mommy says that you are crazy but I don't believe her" he said "She says I shouldn't talk to you anymore"

"Oh" Alana said again "I'm sorry" she didn't know why she was apologizing.

"No! Don't be sorry! I should be sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad Alana" David said, the colour was coming back to his cheeks and he looked a lot better. "I'm sorry Alana." He gave her a smile, there was silence for a moment and then David spoke again, "Why did you jump out of the window?" he asked.

Alana's cheeks reddened "I-I-I saw someone get hurt and I wanted to help" she said- it wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either.

"Oohh" David said a big smile on his face "Your really brave Alana"

Alana cheeks reddened even more "No" she shook her head.

"Yes you are!" he protested. When Alana didn't say anything more he held out his hand offering Alana to take it, "Friends?" he asked.

Alana looked at his hand and then smiled 'Yeah, Friends" she took his hand and they shook.

The day passed quickly for Alana, David was back and she felt a lot better. She had even talked to Harry and Bret and they didn't seem to think that she was crazy anymore. The rest of the class on the other hand still treated her the same way as they had the day before. It was during their last recess when the treatment got a lot worse.

Alana was helping Bret put the head of their snowman on when suddenly a snowball hit her on the back of the head knocking her forward. Her face hit cold snow and she let out a shriek of surprise. She was helped to her feet by Bret, Harry and David, and then after the snow was brushed off of her they turned to see who the snowball thrower was. Alana wasn't surprised to see Mabel at the front of a small group of girls. She looked pleased with herself.

"What did you do that for!?" David yelled.

Mabel ignored David and sneered at Alana "My mommy says your insane" she told her, she gestured behind her "We don't like insane people" she said.

"That's not very nice" said Bret as he adjusted his toque on his head. Mabel shrugged and tossed another snowball at Alana, this one she dodged but ducking. But Mabel's snowball wasn't the first, half a dozen snowballs came hurtling in their direction and Alana and the boys were unable to avoid them all. Then after the snowballs were thrown it seemed that the girls wanted an all out war. They let out little battle cries as they tackled the boys and Alana to the snow. Alana's hair was pulled and her coat torn, she felt a jaw hit her face and let out a little cry of pain. Unable to do anything else Alana began to defend herself. She let loose a few punches and let some of the girls let up.

Alana managed to sit up and saw the boys in similar predicaments such as the one she had been in. Harry and Bret seemed to be handling the girls well, being more brawn then brains they simply threw the small girls out of their path. David on the other hand seemed to not be putting up a fight at all, he was struggling on the ground but being held easily down by two girls who were sitting on him. Alana felt she had no choice but to save him, she began to run and then jumped, she hit the two girls in the head and knocked them off David. She was then attacked by their small fists and so she hit them back. She was soon joined by David who tackled one girl to the ground while doing a wonderful impression of Tarzan.

It seemed as if the fight would go on forever when suddenly Alana felt herself being torn from the girl. She looked up and saw a teacher she did not know, he had a powerful grip on her jacket and she was dangling a few inches off the ground, the girl she had been fighting was being held the same way. Alana looked around and saw a bunch of other teachers pulling apart the fighting groups. Then once all were separated they were marched to the office where the many phone calls began. The kids had been separated into two groups; the group of girls and then Alana and the boys.

Bret had a bleeding nose and was holding a bunch of tissues to his nostril. Harry had an ice pack on his sore knee, while David's glasses had been broken there was a cut above his left eye but other than that he seemed fine. Alana had an icepack to her swollen cheek and one to her black eye. The girls across the room seemed equally damaged but more sullen.

Alana glanced back at the boys, "Thanks" she murmured.

"We're friends" Bret told her "Friends help each other" Harry nodded and gave off a small grunt.

David shrugged and lifted up his broken glasses "I've never been in a fight before" he said thoughtfully. He looked up and smiled "It was fun" Before any of them had a chance to reply to David's statement the principle walked in. Alana immediately recognized him as the man who had pulled her and the girl from the fight.

"Your families have been called and are on their way. Since there are so many of you we will be heading to a classroom where we will have this matter sorted out. If you will please follow me…" he walked out of the classroom and the students followed him to a classroom which Alana had never been in before. The kids were separated again and were sat in desks on opposite sides of the room.

One of the girls on the opposite end of the room had their parents come in first. Then followed by David's parents, they gave him a stern look and glanced distastefully at Alana. Then came the Autobots, first Ironhide entered the room followed by Ratchet, then Optimus, Bumblebee, Sam and even Fireflight's holoform was there.

Alana gaped at them "You all came!" she sounded amazed.

"Well why not Alana" Optimus said as they reached her. Ratchet knelt down in front of her and pulled the two ice packs from her face.

"Alana, we just took off you last bandages, now you go and do this" he shook his head good naturedly as he inspected her bruises.

Ironhide leaned on the desk "What happened Alana?" he asked.

Alana was about to answer when the principle stepped in "Once all of the parents arrive the story will be told, we will listen to both sides and then pass judgment" he said.

Ironhide raised a brow at the word judgment but then shrugged "Ok" he said. Sam looked around the classroom, the parents and students were looking at the group of Autobots each with a look of surprise or confusion- some even looked suspicious. Sam smiled inwardly, mess with one Autobot you mess with them all he thought, this school wasn't going to know what hit them.

Ratchet stood up after he placed the icepacks back on Alana's face, he glanced over to Optimus and saw that he was glaring across the room. Ratchet followed his gaze and saw Mabel and her mother conversing, Mabel's mother was doing most of the talking- it seemed like she was giving instructions. Ratchet frowned, well that's not good, he thought. Casually he leaned back down and whispered in Alana's ear.

"Alana tell nothing but the truth ok?" he whispered.

Alana nodded "Kay" she said.

She was about to ask a question when Fireflight plopped himself into the desk across from her and looked around in amazement, "So this is school!" he said. "It feels so…" Fireflight frowned as he searched for the word he thought was appropriate "…Smart" he finally said.

"Duh" said Sam from behind him. "It's a school; it's supposed to make you smarter"

Fireflight frowned "Ooohh" he said "I thought schools were jus there to brainwash people" he said. "Shows you what I know" he said cheerfully. Bumblebee sighed and placed his head in his hand. Sam shook his head with a brow arched.

Finally after a few more minutes of waiting all of the parents were present and the students could begin to tell their sides of the story.

Mabel volunteered to go first, she pointed at Alana and said "Alana is insane- she attacked me and my friends for no reason"

Ironhide look enraged and bared his teeth, "She is not insane" he hissed.

Ratchet nodded "I would know if she was" he added.

Optimus kept his anger in check but it was obvious he was angry when he said "Alana is in no way crazy, she is a perfectly normal kid"

The principle held up his hand "You have made your point but Alana deserves a turn to defend herself" Alana stood up and pulled the icepack off her face and let it rest on the desk; she looked at the teacher and didn't spare a glance towards Mabel.

"Mabel with her friends attacked me and my friends while we were building a snowman"

The principle frowned "Can you describe the attack?" he asked.

"First they threw a snowball at me and it hit me on the head. They called me names and Bret, Harry and David stood up for me but they ignored them and threw more snowballs at us. We tried to doge them and when they were done throwing they ran at us and attacked us" Alana said.

The principle turned to the boys "Is this true?" he asked. They nodded and he turned his head back to the girls side "Your defense?" he asked.

The girls were silent but Mabel's mother wasn't "You can't possibly believe that girl!" she shouted "She has a troubled mind" she protested.

"That is not true" snarled Ironhide.

"Is too! She has attacked my baby before this incident!" Mabel's mother pointed to Alana and looked at the teacher.

"Your daughter provoked her" Ratchet growled getting into the fight as well.

"My daughter would never do such a thing" Mabel's mother screeched.

"Sounds like someone had Egyptian river disease!" Sam sang.

Fireflight frowned "What's Egyptian river disease?" he asked.

"Denial" Sam smirked.

Fireflight frowned "I don't get it" he said after a moment.

Sam sighed "whatever" he said.

Mabel's mother was sputtering "M-m-my Daughter is a w-w-well brought u-up young girl!" she said.

"You told her to lie" Ironhide said "I saw you talking to her before we started this"

Mabel's mother put her hands to her temples obviously overwhelmed "I swear you are exactly like my ex-husband!" she pointed at Ironhide "I was very tempted to poison his drink! You men are so frustrating!" she growled.

Ironhide gave Mabel's mother a smile "Lady, If your husband was anything like me he would drink the poison" She gave off a frustrated squeak but remained silent.

The principle nodded "I have come to a decision" he said "All of the students here will be coming back to school on Monday, no punishments will be given out. I leave it to you parents if you want to take action" he said as he nodded and then walked out of the room.

Alana looked up at Optimus "Are you mad at me?" she asked.

Optimus shook his head "No Alana" he bent down and picked her up and placed her on his shoulder, "I'm not mad at all"

"You look mad" Alana told him, she rested her chin on the top of his head.

"Mabel's mother is a frustrating human" he said.

"She is" Ironhide agreed, he reached up and ruffled Alana's hair and put her ball cap on.

Alana looked down at Bret, David and Harry "Thank you for helping me today" she said.

"We already said no problem" Harry reminded her.

The Autobots were about to walked out of the room when David's mother stopped them. She extended her hand and gave them a small smile.

"My name is Sue" she said "I'm David's mother, we have met before"

Ironhide nodded and took her hand "I remember" he said.

"I would like to apologize for what I said about your daughter. I told my son he wasn't to talk to her but now I see that as a mistake- I hope you will forgive me" she said looking at all of the Autobots.

Alana nodded "sure" she said.

Optimus smiled and nodded "You are forgiven" he said.

"Excellent" Sue nodded. She then turned and gestured for David to follow her, he took her hand and waved goodbye to Alana and then they walked off.

"Can we go home now?" asked Alana.

"Yup" Said Ironhide. They were walking out of the school when Ironhide spoke again "Alana you've gotten out of school two days in a row now" he said.

Alana nodded "yup" she said.

"Your really lucky, you know that" he said.

"Yup" Said Alana again.


	16. Chapter 16

Optimus Prime stared up at the dark starry sky with a look of dissatisfaction. Normally he would look upon the sky with a sense of wonder, the stars, the planets all looked so small but he knew the vastness and the size of space and its contents- It was one of the few things that made Optimus feel small. But now he looked up at the dark blue space with wariness and frustration. They had been able to enter Earth's atmosphere without a problem, it was the same with the Decepticons, both sets of Transformers could come and go as they pleased and no one would know about it. Optimus knew it was time to put a stop to it, with another glare at the sky he headed back into the base where the rest of the Autobots rested comfortably in their rooms. They'd had a large dinner of Chinese food. Ratchet had grumbled about them killing their humans but when he tasted the lemon chicken his thoughts had been different. But now everyone was either asleep or in stasis- all but Optimus. He had been unable to slip into stasis, he had been unable to find a comfortable position and in an effort to tire himself he decided to take a walk. Which then resulted in his plan to monitor the space around Earth.

Optimus walked into the monitor room and sat himself down in front of the large screen. With a few taps of the buttons on the control panel the computer was up and running and displaying a diagram of the earth. Optimus gave the keys another few taps and a red box appeared beside the earth. It blinked for a few moments and then disappeared and red Cybertronian words flashed across the screen. Optimus pressed the keys again and the red box appeared in another part of the screen.

He was scanning the space around earth, hoping to find something, after a few more minutes of failure Optimus sat back and stared at the screen with burning blue optics. He thought about the past events trying to piece it together- All the events which had happened didn't make sense to him. He thought about Ratchet's inspection of the Decepticon Shockwave. Ratchet had been unable to find anything of importance, only faulty directions to Earth and the need to destroy the town of Grande Cache. Other than that Ratchet had come up with nothing- the Decpeticon had wiped his memory just before his demise.

Optimus frowned, he didn't understand why the Decepticons had chosen Grande Cache, nor did he understand why Shockwave had come with out the aid of the other Decpeticons. Even though the threat was eliminated Optimus kept getting the nagging feeling that more were coming. So in an effort to sooth his nerves Optimus opened another screen and taped a few more keys. Suddenly a diagram was shown and Optimus began to observe it and make changes.

He worked well into the night designing a scanner which would have to set up in a high altitude location, this scanner would not only spot flying objects heading into Earth's atmosphere it would also pick up one's leaving. He finished the design at around four in the morning, after looking through the plans once more he deemed it ready. Optimus sat back stretching his back letting lose a few mechanical pops, he was proud of what he had done. He wasn't much of an inventor but this he thought was a very nice accomplishment- and not to mention it would put his mind at ease for a while.

He saved and stood up and walked out of the monitor room, once out in the hallway he spotted Alana's small form heading into the lounge. Optimus tilted his head and followed after her curious. When he poked his head around the corner he saw Alana grabbing the remote and turning on the T.V, she fixed the volume to a quite sound and sat down. Optimus watched her for a moment and then stepped into the room, "what do you think your doing watching T.V so late into the night?" Optimus asked as he stepped from the doorframe. Alana jumped and let out a small squeak of surprise, her head whipped to look at him and after her moment of surprise she bit her bottom lip and looked up at him the guilt evident on her face.

"S-sorry" she mumbled, she looked at him but made no move to turn off the T.V. Optimus and Alana stared at each other for a moment and then Optimus walked forward and settled himself on the couch, he leaned forward and scooped her up and placed her on his knee.

"You couldn't sleep either huh?" Optimus said as Alana fixed her night gown before she sat down.

"No…" Alana said as she turned in her sitting position to look at the T.V.

"What are we watching?" Optimus asked as he too looked at the screen.

"N… Nar… Nar… to…" She frowned not sure how to sound it out.

Optimus pressed the info button on the remote and read the show's name "Naruto" he told her.

"Naruto" Alana repeated, "Sam said that was about ninja's or something" She said; her eyes glued to the T.V.

"Sure looks like it" Optimus said as a boy with blond hair punched another boy with raven hair. They watched in silence for a few moments as the blond boy which Optimus identified as Naruto began a speech on not giving up. He looked down at Alana who tilted her head as Naruto shouted 'Believe it!' "Alana…" He said gently, when she looked at him he said "After this you should go to bed, get some sleep- it'll be good for you"

Alana frowned "What about you?" she asked, "Are you going to go to bed too?"

"Maybe…" Optimus allowed.

Alana shook her head "I only go to be if you go to bed too!" she told him.

"Alright fine" Optimus sighed knowing it would be good for him if he got some rest.

After the show was finished Optimus tucked Alana into bed and walked out of her room and went to his where he did as he promised and got some rest.

The next morning Optimus rose later than usual, most of the base was up and running by the time he finally walked out of his room. Sam was rushing past with Bumblebee shouted that he was going to be late for work. Bumblebee gave Optimus a nod of acknowledgement and rushed past him too. Optimus watched after them and smiled softly when Sam began to scold Bumblebee on not being able to transform fast enough. As he watched them Alana hurried by, she had a rose flush on her cheeks from the shower she had just taken- she looked awake and ready to face the day.

"Hi Optimus!" she glanced up at him and walked past him to catch up with Sam. "Sam!" she called.

Sam poked his head out of Bumblebee's window "What?" He shouted rushed. Bumblebee revved his engine impatiently as Alana walked over.

"Forgot your lunch and coffee" she handed him over the items and Sam gave her a look of gratitude.

"Thanks Alana, you're a life saver" he leaned forward and placed a noisy kiss on her cheek.

" EEwww Sam!" Alana shouted sounding disgusted though the smile on her face said differently.

"See you later!" Sam shouted as Bumblebee drove away. Alana wiped her cheek and turned on her heel. She walked past Optimus and walked back into her room where a few minutes later the sounds of a LEGO battle began.

Optimus smiled softly and walked out of his doorframe and walked into the med-lab where he knew Ratchet was busy doing something or other. Optimus found his busy updating the medical files on the Autobots.

"Hello" Ratchet didn't need to look up from his work to know that Optimus had entered.

"Ratchet, if you don't mind I need to talk with you and Ironhide" Optimus said.

Ratchet looked up from his work and gave Optimus a curious look "Sure" he said. Optimus nodded and opened a com link with Ironhide telling him to come to med-lab. Ironhide came in a few moments later; he crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" he said with the same curious expression that Ratchet had.

"Yes, I have a mission for the both of you" Optimus told them.

Ratchet's metallic brow lifted "really?" he grinned.

"Yes" Optimus said again. He filled them in on his wish to monitor the space around the Earth was a scanner.

Ratchet frowned "But we already have a scanner that works" he said "It's in the monitor room" he pointed in the direction of the monitor room.

"I know" Said Optimus "But I think we would do better with one that scans all the time and it would also scan further than the one we have now. We can connect it with our main base and receive signals of oncoming or leaving objects." He explained.

Ironhide nodded "Makes sense" he said.

"And you need us to set this scanner up in a suitable place" Ratchet said.

"Yes" said Optimus nodding. "I have already come up with a suitable location" he relayed the co-ordinates and Ironhide and Ratchet stored the information for later.

Ironhide frowned, "Sir? If I may ask something"

"Yes Ironhide?" Optimus already knew the question.

"What about Alana? She has to got back to school tomorrow and we need to make sure that she is gonna be alright. Especially with the Mabel girl and her mother hanging around"

"I assure you I will take care of her, as will Bumblebee" Optimus felt it better to not include Fireflight.

Ratchet though also reluctant nodded "I'm trusting you Optimus" he said knowing full well that Optimus could take care of Alana.

Ironhide though unhappy about the thought of Alana being with out him for a while also nodded, "we'll just grab what we need and say good bye" he said. As they were walking out Ironhide paused and turned to Optimus "Make sure she stays out of the cookies, put her to bed at a reasonable time-" he was about to continue when Optimus let out a laugh.

"Ironhide, I'll take good care of her I promise"

Ironhide paused "I know" he said finally.

It didn't take long for Ironhide and Ratchet to collect all of the supplies they needed to collect the scanner. These supplied would be piled into Ironhide's back when they were driving, they placed the supplies near the front and then made their way towards Alana's room where she was making even more war noises. They walked in and saw a mess of LEGO all over the floor and Alana was sitting in the middle of it holding a spaceship in her hands.

"Hi!" she smiled up at them and put down her spaceship and stood up, "Wanna play?" she asked.

Ratchet shook his head "no thank you Alana."

"Oh…" she looked disappointed.

"Ratchet and I want to talk with you" Ironhide knelt down and Alana's eye's widened.

"I didn't take any more cookies I swear!" she paused "Well maybe some…" she winced and looked up at them with big green eyes. "I shared…" she said hopefully.

"I thought I told you, you already had enough cookies for today" Ironhide scolded her.

"But they're chocolate chip!" Alana protested.

Ironhide was about to scold her when he shook his head "That's not what we came to talk to you about" he said.

"Ohh…" Alana paused and frowned, after a moment her eyes widened again "Then what?" she paused and waited for Ironhide and Ratchet to answer.

"Alana… Ironhide and I will be leaving for a few days" Ratchet said as he too knelt down.

"Oooh… Why?" Alana tilted her head as it was explained to her. "Oooh…" she said again, "So you gotta leave"

"That's right" said Ironhide.

"How long?" Alana asked.

Ratchet did some quick calculations "About three days" he said.

"Oooh" Said Alana sadly.

"Optimus and Bumblebee are going to take care of you and we will be back as soon as we can" Ironhide told her, he gave her a friendly nudge with his finger and she giggled.

"Ok!" Alana nodded.

Ironhide frowned noticing her all too cheerful attitude "That still means no cookies" he said "you've had enough to last you a life time" he stood up and Alana pouted.

"Ok…" she said sadly.

"We'll miss you Alana" Ratchet told her as he too stood up.

"I'll miss you too" Alana told him still pouting. She turned to Ironhide who was looking at her hopefully "Maybe I'll miss you too"

"Hey…" Ironhide growled Alana laughed and smiled up at him and Ironhide knew every thing would be fine. He gave her an affectionate pat on the head and they began to walk towards the front.

There Ironhide transformed and Ratchet began to load all of the supplies in the back. Once done he gave Alana one last smile and transformed as well. As they drove away both looked back to see Alana and Optimus waving their good byes.

Once they were gone Alana dropped her waving hand and turned to go back into the base. There was something suspicious about her walk and Optimus followed her gaze to the kitchen door.

"No cookies" he told her remembering Ironhide's words.

Alana growled "fine" and she waddled back to her room.

Optimus let out a small sigh and leaned against the door jam of the front door and looked out into the snowy area. It was apparent spring was coming soon, snow was dropping off the pine trees like rain and the snow around the base looked more like mush instead of actual white fluffy snow. He could already see little pokes of green grass coming out of the ground where the snow had melted to reveal ground. As he observed the scenery he heard Alana making war noises again. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Alana through the door of her room running across the floor with an airplane in her hands. With a small smile he turned and walked towards her room.

When Alana spotted him she gave stuck out her tongue and continued playing. Optimus laughed and left her to it, he walked on over to the monitor room where the daily chores waited.

The day passed by slowly for Alana, never had she been so bored before. With Ironhide and Ratchet gone she had no one to bug. Fireflight was gone on an exploration mission as he had put it and Sam and Bumblebee were still away at work. Basically it was Bor-ing. Alana sighed and walked past the door to the monitor room where Optimus was tapping away on the keys oblivious to the outside world. She paused and tilted backwards on her heel to get a better look at him, she considered annoying Optimus but then it just seemed wrong to annoy a hard working bot like Optimus. She was about to walk away when she heard Optimus move slightly and then sigh. Alana frowned and watched as Optimus shifted in his seat and frowned at the screen. She glanced towards the screen and saw that he was working the scanner. Intrigued she walked into the room.

Optimus noticed Alana as soon as she stepped in the room, the frustrated glint in his optics disappeared and he leaned down and set the back of his hand against the floor so that Alana could climb on. Once she was standing on his hand he lifted her up and dropped her gently on the control board. Alana's small feet were able to avoid the buttons and so she nimbly stepped around them and looked up at Optimus.

"Hello" she said.

"Hullo" Optimus sighed as he leaned his head upon his hand.

Alana observed him for a moment before speaking "You look sad" she said.

Optimus frowned "I do?" he asked.

"Yup" Alana nodded "Can I have cookies?" she asked.

"No cookies" Optimus said and Alana pouted, "I don't feel sad" he said switching the topic back.

"But you look sad… Why can't I have cookies?" Alana shifted her feet and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Well I'm not sad" said Optimus, "Ironhide told me you already had a lot of cookies today and told me you don't need any more" he grinned down at her.

"You don't look sad any more" Alana told him "but the cookies are sooooo gooood!" she protested.

"But they are sooo baaaaaad for you" Optimus mimicked her tone of voice with another silly grin.

Alana crossed her arms "Fine" she muttered.

Optimus grinned at her "You look sad" he said.

"No cookies" Alana said pitifully.

Optimus thought for a moment "True you can't have cookies" he said "But…" Alana's head snapped up to look at him "Ironhide never said anything about popcorn at the movie theater" Alana stared at him struck dumb for a moment and then she broke out into a smile and cheered.

"Oh Yeah!" she shouted. She wiggled her butt "We're going to the movies!"

Half an hour later Optimus and Alana were seated in the movie theater munching happily on popcorn. The movie theater wasn't too full as Optimus and Alana had chosen a movie that had been out a while. They talked quietly waiting for the movie to start and when it did start they set their eyes on the screen commenting occasionally or asking a question. The movie was filled with action but not even the cool weapons and awesome fighting maneuvers could keep Alana awake. She felt tired, really tired and so near the end of the movie her head fell forward and she was asleep.

Optimus glanced down at her and chuckled; he set the popcorn bag in his lap aside and gathered her up in his arms. He lifted her over the seat and settled her in his lap. He rested her head against his shoulder and brushed his hologram lips against the crown of her head. He didn't leave the theater while she slept knowing she would ask how the movie ended he felt obligated to stay. So when the movie was finished he lifted her up and cradled her as he walked out of the theater. As he was doing so he walked past a group of women who all sighed when they saw they way he cared for the child in his arms.

"Now that's what I want" said one woman

"Likes kids and is gorgeous" another said.

"Perfect…" they sighed together.

Optimus drove home with the radio playing softly he was careful to avoid bumps or anything that would wake the resting child. Once at the base he switched his Holoform on and lifted her out of the cab and set her on the ground. He then transformed and picked her up and walked to her bed room. There he stripped her of her day clothes and put on her nightgown. After tucking her into bed he switched off the light and walked out to get some rest himself.

Monday came all too soon for Alana, she enjoyed the lack of school but knew it was time to buckle down and get back to it. Besides, she mused, school was almost over she still had three more months to go. Optimus had driven her and after wishing her luck he drove off back to the base while Alana rushed inside and sat at her desk.

The day passed by quickly, Alana had no more bullying incidents and had a wonderful time hanging out with Bret, Harry and David. But it came time for school to end and Alana to her dismay had English homework. In a sullen mood she trooped outside and saw Optimus waiting. When she came near him the door opened and Alana climbed in with out a moments hesitation. She let the seatbelt snake around her torso and sat back in her seat as Optimus began the drive back home.

"You look sad" Optimus suddenly said his voice coming from the speakers of the cab.

Alana shrugged "I'm not"

"Yes you are" Optimus said.

"Am not" Alana pouted.

"Are too" Optimus told her "Want a cookie?"

"No…" Alana said stubbornly refusing to be pleased.

"That bad huh?" Optimus thought for a moment and spoke again "Ice cream?"

Alana hesitated and then shook her head "No" she said again.

"What's got you so sad?" Optimus asked.

"No…"

"Why not?"

"Not sad…"

"Yes you are"

"Are not!"

"Alana…" Optimus sighed "I'm not going through this again" he told her.

"Hmmph" Alana grunted and crossed her arms.

They drove in silence and when they got to the base Alana got out and walked over to the lounge where she sat down on the floor and sadly took out her homework. Upon seeing the homework Optimus understood immediately. If there was one thing Alana hated in the world it was homework, the Autobots were in full agreement with Alana. They didn't understand why the kids needed homework but since rules were rules they followed them even though they didn't like the idea of homework.

Feeling sympathetic Optimus walked into the lounge and seated himself next to her.

"Hello" Optimus said pleasantly, Alana had her pencil in her mouth and answered with a grunt. "Homework?" Another grunt for an answer. "DO you want any help?" Optimus asked.

Alana looked up at him with wide eyes "Yes" she said hoarsely.

Optimus chuckled and shifted closer so that he could see over he shoulder "What do you have to do?" he asked.

Alana frowned "I have to write my favorite memory" she told him.

"Ah…" Optimus said. "So what's your favorite memory?" he asked.

"Ratchet beating up Bumblebee" Alana answered instantly.

Optimus looked at her and then laughed "That can't be your favorite memory" he said with a smile.

"Okay…" Alana paused, thinking "How about when Sam makes stuff explode in the kitchen?"

"Nah" Optimus said "you can think of something better than that"

"Spending time together" Alana said.

"Okay" Optimus said with a nod "What time?"

"When we drove here together" Alana said "That was fun! And I got stitches too!"

Optimus nodded "I remember" he said "Lets write about that" he said.

"Okay!"

And so the wrote a somewhat edited version of their trip up to Grande Cache, it took a good two hours for Optimus to get Alana to co-operate but when it was done they had a good two pages and Optimus was pleased. Alana thanked him for his help and then rushed over to her room where her LEGO was waiting.

Once seated she picked up a plane but then put it back down again almost immediately. She missed Ironhide and Ratchet, she realized. Her homework had made her think of them and now she missed them. With a small sigh she stared at her plane and then with a frown she took off a wing and examined it. With an idea forming she broke of the other wing and looked at it. With a smile she took apart the rest of her plane and a few other LEGO sets with Ironhide and Ratchet on her mind.


	17. Chapter 17

Ironhide sat down with a tried sigh, the scanner was almost finished and he thought he deserved a break. He leaned against a boulder and watched as Ratchet put his hand on the scanner mentally connecting with it and starting it up. Once Ratchet's hand left the scanner he too let out a long sigh.

"Done" he told Ironhide with a grin.

Ironhide groaned and got to his feet "We had better start getting home"

"Right" Ratchet nodded and the two began their trek down the mountain upon which they had set up the scanner.

They walked in silence for a bit avoiding trees and other such things as they walked down.

Ironhide glanced up and spoke "Do you think Alana's day went well at school today?" he asked concerned.

Ratchet extended his leg and stepped over a small pine tree "Sure her day was fine" he said "She's got some good friends looking out for her. Not to mention Optimus is there"

"True" Ironhide allowed "But do you think Mabel was bothering her again?"

"Nah" said Ratchet "Mabel won't strike again for a while" Ironhide jumped over a rock and caused a small landslide which he slid gracefully down with.

"Wait" he said as he regained his balance "Strike again? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, humans especially of the female kind tend to hold grudges and strike back after much calculated planning"

Ironhide frowned "That's dumb" he said "Nothing say's revenge like a good punch to the face" he thought a punch was far more reasonable than planning.

"That's not how females do it. They prefer mental attacks, they perfect it as they grow older" Ratchet stated.

Ironhide was quiet for a moment then suddenly he looked up "Wait… you mean when Alana is mad at us, she's gonna use all sorts of mental attacks?" he asked.

"It would seem so" said Ratchet.

"Aw man…" muttered Ironhide. And so they continued walking down the mountain until they reached a dirt road where they transformed and drove out of there.

Optimus stared at the computer screen happily, the scanner had just connected itself to the Autobots main computer and it seemed to be working perfectly. Small blips of rock would appear and then disappear as the atmosphere disintegrated them. With a happy smile he checked the time and saw that it was time to pick up Alana from school, and so he walked out of the monitor room and was about to transform when Bumblebee opened a com link with him.

"Bumblebee to Optimus"

"Optimus here"

"Hey! Uh, Sam and I can pick up Alana we're just driving by…"

"Sure, see you guys when you get home"

"Okay"

Bumblebee cut the com link and drove into the school parking lot where parents were waiting for their kids. Turning on his holoform; he and Sam stepped out of the car and leaned against the hood while they waited for the final bell to ring. It rang a few minutes later and soon students were pouring out of the school getting onto busses, walking home or running to their parents. Alana was among the hoard of kids and when she saw Bumblebee and Sam she ran to them with a smile on her face.

"Hey Alana" Sam bent down and lifted Alana up as she ran into his arms; he set her on his hip and gave her a noisy kiss on the cheek.

"Eeeeewwww! Sam!" Alana pouted, laughing Sam did it again. Alana growled at Sam but smiled all the same, she gave Bumblebee a smile, "Hi Bee" she said.

"Hey Alana" Bumblebee lifted Alana out of Sam's grip and set her on his shoulders. "What's say the three of us get ice-cream?" he asked. Sam nodded enthusiastically and Alana cheered.

They got home and two hours later after stopping for ice-cream but then spotting the candy store on their way home, after they had bought candy they had stopped to look at the toy shop next to the candy shop and then they had gone through a car wash; which brought them home two hours later than expected. Optimus stood waiting impatiently for them at the front door of the base; he tapped his foot and crossed his arms as the two humans got out of Bumblebee and Bumblebee transformed.

"School is not two hours away" he said.

"Oooopppttiiimmusss!" Alana shouted on a sugar high, she giggled hysterically "We went for ice cream but then we saw a candy store and wanted candy so we got lots of candy like this fizzy what'chamacallit thing and we got root beer and we got's gummy worms but Sam ate them all he ate the gobstoppers too but I got a pack see? And then we got other stuff too, but then we were walking out of the candy shop and we saw this huge toy store and I thought they sells LEGO and they do! When we came in there was a LEGO Darth Vader! It was so awesome! But then we went to see the other LEGO sets and they had this set from Star Wars which was a huge walker and it deploys ships and it gots four Stormtroopers!" she held up four fingers and took a deep breath "And then we came home" she finished with a smile.

Optimus stared at Alana for a long moment, had he been human he would have been blinking, then he turned to look at Bumblebee who was shuffling his feet looking around nervously, "Well then" he said with a smile. "You had quite the day didn't you?"

"Yup yup yup!" Alana nodded. Sam who was also on a bit of a sugar high, though he was able to control himself better than Alana also nodded with excitement.

"I'm hungry" said Alana suddenly.

Bumblebee looked down at her one of his metallic brows raised "You just had a whole whack of candy"

"I know" Alana said "But I'm hungry"

"Me too" Said Sam rubbing his stomach, he grinned at Alana "Race you!" he took off running towards the kitchen. It didn't take Alana long to react she growled and ran after him her small legs taking her far.

"No fair!" she shouted "You got the head start"

"Loser!" shouted Sam over his shoulder as he turned the bend and skidded to a stop in front of the kitchen door. He was about to walk in when Alana's small body collided with his legs and he stumbled and fell to the ground. Alana caught her herself before she fell and ran into the kitchen.

"Ha!" she shouted as she ran into the refrigerator "Ow!" she rubbed her squashed nose.

"No fair" Said Sam as he got to his feet, "You used violence" he grinned as he walked into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge as Alana continued to rub her sore nose.

"Loser" said Alana with a big smile.

They settled down to eat left over salad and steak when Optimus came in, he leaned against the door frame and smiled.

"Hey Alana…"

Alana looked up at him a piece of salad sticking out of her mouth "Mmmph" was all she said.

"Ironhide and Ratchet are coming home tonight" Optimus told her, he had just received the com link from Ratchet saying they were on their way.

Alana's eyes widened and she choked on her salad, after Sam gave her a few good thumps on the back did she straighten up again and wipe her watering eyes, "When?" she asked hoarsely, she gulped down some water and looked back up at Optimus.

"Two hours from now" Optimus said.

Alana jumped up and cheered "Yes!" she danced around the kitchen when she suddenly paused as if remembering something. "Hhhmmm" she put a hand to her chin and pulled a thinking pose.

Sam tilted his head "What?" he asked.

Alana ignored him and pointed up to the ceiling and put her other hand on her hip "To the bedroom!" she shouted. She rushed out of the kitchen turned a corner ran and then paused, she turned on her heel and faced the opposite direction, "To the bedroom, which is that way" she headed back to the kitchen and ran past it to her bedroom.

Once in her bed room she crawled under her bed and dug out her LEGO creations. She stared at them for a moment and then shrugged, they would make fine welcome home presents; after all, Optimus liked his. She saw it all the time on his desk, so she was sure Ironhide and Ratchet would like what she created. Carefully she picked up her creations and with one in either hand she made her way out of her bedroom. Once outside of her bedroom Alana felt the need to be dramatic and secretive, so she pressed her back against the wall and began to silently sidestep her way down the hall keeping her eyes peeled for any enemies. When she saw Fireflight walking down the hall she froze and tried to press herself further into the wall.

Fireflight walked past Alana humming happily, but paused, he walked back a few steps and looked at Alana with a metallic brow raised, "What are you doing?" he asked.

Alana glanced up at him and then hissed "Shhhh" Fireflight stared at her for a moments and then nodded, he too pressed himself up against the wall and glanced down at her.

"What are we doing?" he asked but this time more quietly.

Alana lifted her head and stared into his blue optics "Secret mission" she whispered back.

"Really?" Fireflight pressed himself further into the wall, "What's the mission?"

"Gotta put these in Ironhide and Ratchet's room" Alana told him showing him the LEGO creations.

"Hey! Those are really good!" Fireflight told her enthusiastically.

"Shhhhh!" she said glaring up at him.

"Oh… right…. Sorry" Fireflight whispered. They slipped into silence and then quietly began to inch their way down the hallway pausing whenever they thought they heard someone. They reached Ironhide's room and Alana placed her present on the desk and then turned to Fireflight who was standing guard at the door. He gave her the thumbs up indicating the way was clear and they began to make their way to Ratchets room.

Alana peeked around a corner and after waiting a moment to see if the cost was clear did she ten signal Fireflight to follow her. They made their way around the corner and once more began to slide their way down the wall to Ratchets room. Once at Ratchet's room Alana ran in and placed her creation in a spot it would be seen. Then she ran out.

They were making their way back Alana's room when Optimus spotted them.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked as Fireflight and Alana froze and then looked at him guiltily

"Caught…" said Fireflight sadly.

"We were so close…" Alana shook her head.

Optimus regarded them for a moment and then crossed his arms "What were you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing…." Alana averted her eyes.

"Yeah…. Heh, Nothing" Fireflight added.

Optimus shook his head "You guys are terrible liars" he said.

"I know" Alana hung her head in shame and Fireflight nodded.

"So what were you doing?" Optimus asked again.

"A secret mission" Fireflight said.

"Secret mission?" Optimus raised a metallic brow.

"It's a surprise" Alana mumbled.

Optimus knelt down and flashed Alana a smile "Then let's keep it a surprise" he said.

The two hours wait passed slowly for Alana, she paced, played with her LEGO, watched T.V, paced some more and then realized only half an hour had passed. So she resigned herself to the T.V where she watched a Pokèmon marathon. She was joined by Sam an hour later, he changed the channel to some crime show and Alana groaned and went to get herself some cookies. Once she had a fairly substantial pile of cookies she went back to the T.V and watched as some guy named Mac Taylor tried to solve a crime.

As they were watching a familiar voice greeted them "Show's you how much we are loved" Ironhide's gruff low voice came from the doorway of the lounge "they know we're coming home and all they do is sit around and watch T.V"

Alana jumped to her feet, her cookies flew all over the place as she ran towards Ironhide and Ratchet "Your home!" she shouted running into his foot and laughing.

"You bet we are" Ratchet said as he bent down to grab Alana. He placed her on his shoulder and she leaned against his cheeks.

Ironhide looked at the floor where cookies were strewn all over the place "I thought I said no more cookies"

"That only counted for one day" Alana told him.

"Does that mean you listened to me the day I told you no more?" Ironhide asked.

Alana nodded "Yup"

"You listened only because I told you no" Optimus suddenly said from behind them.

Alana shook her head and put a finger in front of her lips "Shhhh" she told him.

"Uh-huh…." Ratchet placed his hands on his hips and grinned, he glanced at Optimus "How'd ya get her to listen?" he asked. Optimus shrugged and said nothings so Alana felt the need to answer for him.

"He took me to a movie, and we gots a huge bag of popcorn" Alana held out her arms to demonstrate the largeness of the popcorn bag.

"Pop…corn" Ironhide said slowly and Optimus took a step back fearing for his safety. There was a long pause "why didn't I think of that?" he asked.

Ratchet boped Ironhide on the head "Because it's un-healthy. Seriously, we keep feeding Alana and Sam crap"

Sam had joined them and mumbled "It's good tasting crap"

"But crap it still is" Ratchet said.

"Ironhide?" Alana interrupted the conversation.

"Yes Alana?" Ironhide turned his blue optics to her sea green eyes.

"Have you looked in your room yet?" she asked.

Ironhide looked at her for a good long moment before shaking his head, "Not yet" he said.

"Oh… Ok" Alana shrugged.

Acting on impulse and curiosity Ironhide plucked Alana off of Ratchets shoulder and placed her gently in his hand and began to walk to his room. Ratchet and Optimus followed after him. When Ironhide reached his room he walked in and saw a small object on his desk, he walked towards it and saw Alana's surprise.

It was a small LEGO version of himself, an uncontrollable feeling of love washed over him as he stared at the small LEGO version of himself.

"I missed you" said Alana softly in his hand.

"Dawww" Ironhide brought Alana closer to his chest and gave her a big robot hug, "I missed you too Alana" Ironhide picked up the creation carefully and examined it closely. As he did so Alana climbed up to Ironhide's shoulder to see Ratchet staring at Ironhide's gift jealously.

"I put yours in your room" before her sentence was finished Ratchet had run off to his room to check out the LEGO version of himself. A few moments later he came back holding the creation grinning down at it like a fool.

Ratchet made a few sounds like he was clearing his throat before he looked up at Alana "Thanks Alana, I missed you as well"

"I would say lets celebrate with cookies but…" Optimus shrugged "It seems Ratchet wants you to eat healthier so let's make do with carrots"

"Kay!" Alana smiled, the lack of cookies could not dull her day for her family was complete once again.

The last three months of school passed quickly enough, the scanner continued to work perfectly, indicating that nothing had come to earth or had left it. Alana had passed grade one with exceptional marks, math being her highest grade followed by science. Her lowest grade was English, her friends Bret, Harry and David also passed with well deserved marks and all four were excited for summer.

On the last day of school Optimus waited for Alana to exit the school, while waiting he observed the students exiting the school. He saw a group of girls dressed in feminine colours of pink and purple, walking and talking and laughing while they got onto their bus. Next came a group of boys who were all demonstrating their manliness by seeing who could create the loudest and longest burp. Then another group of girls came, they were holding a bunch of little dolls and paying with them while they walked down the stairs of the school. Then another group of boys rushed out of the building chasing after each other and when one boy was caught a playful wrestling match would ensue. And so the pattern went on until one group threw the pattern right off balance. Alana and her friends walked out of the building, they were ganging up on David. Alana had jumped on his back and was giving him a noogie while Bret and Harry laughed. Then Alana got off of David and they walked down the stairs talking until something that was said made Bret jump on Alana causing her to fall to her knees laughing. She rolled over and Bret fell off of her, they stood up and grab the others shoulders and started to push trying to knock the other over. Off on the sidelines David and Harry were placing bets, bargaining their army men.

Intrigued Optimus turned on his Holoform and walked up next to Harry and David who had their army men out in front of them and were watching the match with enthusiasm, David was cheering on Alana and Harry was cheering for Bret. Optimus crouched down next to them and David gave him a side look, he recognized him immediately.

"Oh, hello sir" he mumbled not sure how Optimus would react to Alana play fighting, he knew that his mother would not allow for it.

"Afternoon David" Optimus inclined his head in greeting. "I take it you've bet on Alana" he said.

"Yup" David nodded, relaxing "Gonna get three bazooka dudes if she wins" he said excitedly.

"I'm gonna get your tank when Bret wins" Said Harry while giving David a light shove.

"You mean if" said David shoving Harry back.

"No, when. Bret will win" Harry said confidently.

"No! Alana will!" David told Harry.

"Oh yeah!" Harry turned from Alana and Bret's match to glare at David.

"Yeah!" David set his jaw and looked Harry defiantly. They were silent for a few moments, and then suddenly chaos broke. David let out a loud war cry and tackled Harry onto his back.

Optimus watched the two boys and then glanced over to Alana and Bret who were still grappling. Then he shrugged and settled down to watch the show.

Alana came home half an hour later sporting a sore bottom, she had faller first to her shame and to David's dismay he had lost his tank. Though they had left on good terms, with a few punches and laughs the bid each other farewell and left for the summer vacation.


	18. Chapter 18

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During the first few days of summer, Alana was blissfully happy. No school, no homework, just the Autobots and Sam- this in her opinion was perfection. But after a week of nothing but movies, T.V and LEGO Alana was becoming bored. So she would take long walks out beside the base exploring different places and spotting wildlife. She had been walking out later in the day, when the sun was just setting behind the mountains and the moon became more visible. She had out her small flashlight and was trotting through the trees hoping to spot wildlife. And so as she walked her bright green eyes scanned the surrounding area trying to spot the movement of a wild animal. As she was walking Alana failed to notice the ever darkening sky and a burst of white light streak across it surface.

Back at the base Sam was pestering Bumblebee about his Star Trek obsession and failed to hear the beeping coming from the monitor room. Ratchet on the other hand was pulled out of a peaceful and much needed stasis by the beeping. It took him a moment to recognize the sound and another few for him to get on his feet to rush to the door and head for the monitor room. He ran past Sam and Bumblebee, Sam was making fun of McCoy, Bumblebee's favorite character. Ratchet ignored Bumblebee's cry of outrage and skidded to a halt in front of the monitor room and opened the door. He ran to the control panel, hit a few buttons and glanced towards the screen.

Ratchet let out a gasp of surprise and quickly opened a com link with Optimus and called him over. Optimus entered the room a few minutes later, he saw Ratchet pointing towards the screen and he too saw what had surprised Ratchet.

"Another one" he spoke softly. "Can you tell Ratchet? Autobot or Decepticon?" Ratchet leaned down and pressed a few buttons after a moment he shook his head.

"Sorry sir can't tell" Ratchet stood up and looked toward Optimus for his decision.

Optimus was quick to snap into his leader mode "Alright, Ironhide Fireflight and I will go see who it is and engage if necessary. You and Bumblebee get Sam and Alana and make sure they are safe, then keep and eye on the monitors to make sure no one else is coming"

"Yes sir!" Ratchet and Optimus both ran out of the room, Optimus went to collect Fireflight and Ironhide while Ratchet went to inform Bumblebee and Sam about what was happening.

"So someone else is coming?" Sam asked.

"Yes" Ratchet nodded, he turned his head around trying to spot Alana. "Bumblebee…"

Bumblebee recognized the tone of voice and stood up "Ratchet?"

"Where's Alana?" Ratchet spun around looking towards the doorway hoping to spot her standing there.

"Uh…" Bumblebee ran to the doorway and looked down both sides of the hallway, when he didn't see her he glanced back into the room and shook his head "I don't see her" Both Autobots reacted in the same fashion, they looked at each other and then bolted out of the doorway calling out her name checking all throughout the base. When she didn't answer they became even more worried. Ratchet ran a hand over the top of his head as his optics scanned her room turning up no human life.

"Damn…" he muttered. Ratchet's faceplates were creased with worry as he spun around and was about to run down the hallway again checking every room when a thought occurred to him. He paused thinking it over and then ran down the hallway outside.

The sun was setting but it was still a nice warm summer evening, though Ratchet didn't care much for the weather at the moment.

"Alana!" he called out. When no one answered he turned on his scanners trying to spot Alana's heat signature, he found her a few moments later bending down looking at something. Ratchet overcome with relief walked on over to the grove of trees Alana was in and called out her name "Alana"

Alana's head snapped up to look at him, and when Ratchet saw her facial expression he knew that something was wrong, "Ratchet…" she pointed down to the ground.

Ratchet maneuvered his way around the trees until he was next to her, then he crouched down and saw what Alana was pointing at.

It was a small puppy.

Ratchet let out a low mechanical sound and scanned the puppy,

"R-Ratchet?" Alana said quietly "Is it dead?"

Ratchet shook his head "no Alana, it's just a little weak"

"Oh… Are we going to take care of it?" Alana asked.

"You bet" Ratchet smiled down at her, "Ok Alana I need you to pick up the puppy carefully"

"Like this?" Alana bent down and gathered the puppy in her arms; she made sure that the puppy's head was supported by her arm and held it close. The puppy let out a small whine and then snuggled in closer to Alana's warmth.

"Yes like that" Ratchet held out his hand and Alana climbed on and together they carefully made their way back to the base where they would take care of the puppy.

Optimus and Ironhide drove along a highway at impossible speeds while Fireflight flew just ahead of them. It would be another hour before they would reach the landing sight and then another half hour before the flying object hit the ground. All of them were checking their system's while they were driving making sure that their guns and programs were working up to their usual standards. And then when the time came all they could do was hope that they were joined by another Autobot.

Ratchet and Alana had brought in the puppy and had put in the med-lab where they were soon joined by Sam and Bumblebee.

Sam had gone all misty eyed and was saying "I used to have a dog" he told Alana "His name was Mojo" he sniffed "but he got old and died" he finished.

Alana feeling the need to comfort Sam patted his head "S'ok" she told him.

Ratchet stood up straight, he had been scanning the dog some more and now he turned to the group before him.

"Alright everyone" he waited until everyone was looking at him. "This dog needs constant care so Alana I need you to grab a blanket from you room and keep him warm. I'm going to get a warm bath going for him. Sam and Bumblebee you two need to go to a pet store and pick up some food and other things that you think the dog would need"

"Yes sir!" Sam saluted Ratchet and jumped into Bumblebee's hand, and while they were walking out of the base Bumblebee spoke.

"Have you noticed that they are always sending us out to get things?" he asked. Sam thought about it and frowned,

"Ah well" was all he said.

Back in the Med-lab Alana had gotten her blanket and was warming up the dog who was licking her face gratefully.

"Are we gonna keep him?" Alana asked as her cheek was savaged by the happy tongue of the dog.

Ratchet looked up from his task and shrugged "I don't know yet Alana, right now we need to make sure the dog is ok and then we will see from there."

"Ok…" Alana smiled and nuzzled the puppy's fur with her nose.

Optimus, Ironhide and Fireflight had reached the landing zone and had taken cover as the flying object hurtled towards them. There was a resounding rumble as the object his the earth causing a cascade of rocks and dust to shot up into the air and fall back down to the ground. The crater was deep, and it was smoking. Cautiously Ironhide stepped forward his guns ready to fire if he felt the need to. Optimus walked up beside him he too had out his gun and had it pointing towards the landing sight. Fireflight was out of sight, hiding, he would be a surprise attack if Optimus and Ironhide needed his help.

They waited for a moment and then the usual sounds of transformation came from inside of the crater. Dirt was moves and sent up into the air, disturbed by the transformer moving inside of it. The Autobots tensed preparing themselves. A figure was then seen moving from the crater to stand just on the edge of it. Optimus was about to demand for the figure to identify it's self when a familiar voice came from the figure.

"Look I may have blown up a few of your possessions but that's no reason to shoot me" the figure held up his hands and the dust began to clear. The Autobots then saw who it was.

Ironhide let out a choked laugh and then did the unexpected, he retracted his guns and tackled the other robot to the ground and punched him, "Wheeljack!" he shouted as he punched him again. "That's for blowing up my room" he told him as he got off of him. Ironhide held out his hand and Wheeljack grabbed it and stood up.

"I suppose I deserved that Ironhide" he said. Optimus was grinning when he stepped forward, Wheeljack looked at him and tilted his head and waved "hello sir"

"Nice to see you again Wheeljack" Optimus held out his hand and Wheeljack took it.

"Got your message" Wheeljack said "the one you send a while back, figured you might need my help" he said.

Optimus clapped Wheeljack on the back causing him to stumble forward a bit "any help is welcome"

"So this planet is called Earth?" Wheeljack asked looking up at Optimus who was a good head taller than him. At the time of the question Fireflight happened to be walking in from the forest, he had seen the situation and deemed it safe to come out. When Wheeljack had asked the question he had perked up and rushed over.

"Yup it's called earth and you know why?" Fireflight had grabbed Wheeljack's hand and was shaking it vigorously in greeting while explaining the term earth. "They call it earth casue of all this dirt stuff your standing on, its annoying when you get it in your armor, it kinda itches but its cool other wise. The dirt is full of this stuff called nutrients and plants attach themselves to the ground and suck up these nutrients with their roots." In demonstration Fireflight let go of Wheeljack's hand and ripped a tree clean from the ground including its roots and pointed to them and said "These thingys suck up the nutrients and then trees and plants grow." Fireflight stuck the tree back in the ground and turned back to Wheeljack who was looking at the tree curiously "and you know how I know all of this?" he asked, Fireflight answered with out waiting for Wheeljack to speak "I know cause I studied!" he said. "And it was fun" he nodded in agreement with his own words. "Lots of fun. And you know what else, human food tastes really good! You should try the ice cream"

Fireflight would have continued had Optimus not stepped in, Optimus held up his hand and Fireflight fell silent, "Thank you Fireflight, you may tell Whelljack all about earth once we get back to the base"

"Base?" Wheeljack asked.

"We have a base a few hours away from here, there we can give you housing" Optimus told him. "Though before we go I would like for you to choose and earth form to drive as so that we can remain in hiding"

"Sure, no problem Prime" Wheeljack nodded.

Optimus gestured to Ironhide who took the hint and projected a few images of cars that Wheeljack could choose from. It took Wheeljack a few seconds to choose a form, he scanned the image and began to transform into a sleek silver car with green and red trim.

"Very nice" Wheeljack's voice came from inside of the cab. "Ready to go Optimus" Wheeljack said.

"Alright, Autobots transform and roll out" Optimus transformed into the semi and with him leading the group began the drive back to the base.

At the base Sam and Bumblebee had come back with the needed pet supplies and the group was having fun washing the squirming puppy. Alana and Sam were soaked by the time Ratchet deemed the puppy clean. They took him out of the bath dried him of and gave him some food. Then while the puppy ate they sat back and watched it with a satisfied silence.

Then suddenly Alana spoke "why do you think the puppy was in the forest?" she asked.

"Ran away" Sam answered instantly.

"Thrown away" Ratchet answered at the same instant.

Alana looked at them both for a moment and then turned to look back at the puppy, "Thrown away…" she murmured to herself.

Sam nodded "Now that Ratchet say's it that seems the most likely. He probably was thrown away on the road and walked all the way over here" Sam said.

"Thrown away…" Alana murmured to herself. Then she looked at Ratchet and pointed to the puppy "Like me?" she asked.

Alana watched as Ratchet gained a pained look, he looked at the puppy for a moment and then nodded "Yes, like you"

"Oh…" said Alana sadly "poor puppy…" then she smiled "The puppy was lucky like me cause it was found" Alana then got up and went over to pet the small dog.

Sam turned his head and gazed at Ratchet with a knowing smile "when she asks to keep the dog what are you going to say?" he asked.

Ratchet made a mechanical groaning noise "you know I can't say no to that" he said.

Bumblebee went over to the puppy and gently picked it up "I think it's kinda cute" he said as the puppy began to sniff its way around Bumblebee's hand.

"Is it a boy or a girl" Sam asked as he walked over to get the dog from Bumblebee to cuddle with.

"He's a boy" Ratchet said.

"Good boy" Sam crooned as the puppy began to sniff his hair and then take an experimental bite, "hey!" Sam laughed as the dog began to lick his cheek, "Ugh dog breath!" Sam laughed.

"Name?" Alana asked looking at Ratchet.

"Huh?" Ratchet looked confused.

"Name, he needs a name" Alana pointed to the puppy which was sitting on top of Sam's head contentedly. "And it has to be a good one." Alana told him.

"Alright…." Ratchet looked at everyone in the room "Just shout out names until we find one."

"Uh ok…" Sam thought for a moment "Spot!" he said suddenly.

"Nah, he doesn't have spots" Alana said "He's a nice black puppy" the dog did indeed have black fur except for a big brown spot on his rump.

"Blackie?" Ratchet shrugged

"No…" Alana and Sam both shook their heads.

"Shadow?" Bumblebee said.

Ratchet shook his head "Nah, too cliché"

"Clic- Clich… e" Alana had an eyebrow raised in confusion as she tried to figure out the word.

"Cliché means that the word is used too much, in this case that name is very common for dogs" Ratchet told her.

"Oh… I see" said Alana. She frowned for a moment and then started pacing. "Ruffus?"

"No…"

"Cooper?"

"Nah"

"Spock!" Bumblebee suddenly said. Everyone in the room turned to look at him then they shook their heads and began pacing. "Fine" Bumblebee muttered.

"Cat!" Sam suddenly shouted.

"What?" Ratchet frowned

"But he's a dog" Alana pointed "silly Sam"

"No, no!" Sam held up his hands "Don't you see the irony calling a dog Cat? Eh?" Sam waited for the burst of laughter but Alana just shook her head.

"It's a dog Sam, silly Sam" was all she said.

"Brutus?"

"Negative"

"How'bout Diesel?" Bumblebee said. The group looked from Bumblebee to the dog to Bumblebee again.

"Diesel…" Alana liked the sound of it.

"I like it" Ratchet said "fit's with the surroundings too"

Sam looked up at Bumblebee "it pains me to say it my friend but you may be a genius"

Bumblebee glared at Sam "If you weren't holding Diesel I would hit you"

"Diesel it is then" Ratchet said. "So Sam you know the responsibility of taking care of a dog I would like for you to brief us on the duties"

"Alright…" Sam set Diesel down and began his lecture on taking care of dogs.

While he was nearing the end of his lecture, Sam was interrupted by the entrance of Fireflight who skipped into the med-lab.

"Guess what!" he sang, he was about to continue when he suddenly saw the dog, he quickly bent down and studied the dog through this blue optics, "what's that?" he pointed towards the dog.

"We gots a dog!" Alana said excitedly pointing towards the happy puppy who was studying Fireflight through wide eyes.

"I named him Diesel" said Bumblebee proud that he had done so.

"Really?" Fireflight stood up and stared at the dog a bit more.

"Uh Fireflight? You uh wanted to tell us something?" Ratchet said.

Fireflight turned his head slowly "yeaaahhh…" he paused for a moment, "but I forget what it was." He waved his hand "guess it wasn't important" Fireflight bent back down to study the dog some more.

Sam was about to continue his lecture when Ironhide walked in "Hello everyone. Guess what?" he said.

"What?" said everyone including Fireflight.

"Well… we- what's that?" Ironhide was staring down at Diesel who gave off a yip.

"It's a dog" Ratchet sighed. Once more the group introduced Diesel and Ironhide instantly liked the little dog. He held out his hand and the curious puppy crawled onto it and began to sniff around.

"It's… It's so… cute" Ironhide said as the puppy gave off a little sneeze, his black pointy ears flew up for a moment and then flopped back down to his head.

"Diesel's just like me Ironhide" Alana told Ironhide.

"He is?" Ironhide raised a metallic brow.

"He was thrown away and found just like me" Alana told him. Ironhide stared between his little girl and the small dog and felt a small ache in his spark. With a small smile he brought down his hand and Alana climbed on. Then he held the small girl and puppy close to his spark and in that moment he was perfectly content.

Though his fluffy moment was ruined when Ratchet spoke "You wanted to tell us something Ironhide"

Ironhide looked up "I did?" he frowned "I don't remember…" he looked back down at the small girl and the puppy and smiled again "Probably wasn't important."

At that moment Optimus walked in "guess you guys heard the news" he said when he saw the happy smiling faces of all in the group.

"WHAT NEWS!!!!???" Ratchet shouted, "no one has told me anything, what news?"

"Calm down Ratchet, we just- what's that?" Optimus was staring down at the puppy in Alana's arms.

"Not again…." Ratchet moaned.

"It's a puppy" Alana said.

"His name is Diesel" Ironhide said.

"Really?" Optimus held out his hand for the dog and the dog waddled onto his hand and then sat down and stared up at Optimus with big black eyes. Optimus was enraptured, "It's so … small… and….cute…"

"Optimus" Ratchet was trying to remain calm "You had something to tell us?"

Optimus didn't even bother to look at Ratchet "huh?"

Ratchet glared at Ironhide, Fireflight and Optimus who were all staring at the dog with affectionate looks.

"Oh never mind" he snapped.

"Never mind what?" a strange yet familiar voice filled Ratchet's audio receptors.

"Wheeljack…?" Ratchet looked towards the doorway and saw that it was indeed him. "Wheeljack!" Ratchet rushed forward and clasped his hand and shook it.

"Ratchet" Wheeljack said warmly, "good to see you again." he looked past Ratchet and saw familiars and some unfamiliar. He saw Fireflight staring at him with a: who-the-hell-are-you expression.

Ironhide was shuffling his feet and murmured "oh right…"

While Optimus was staring at a creature in his hands he gave Wheeljack a glance "huh" then he shook his head and gently put the dog on the table where it ran to its food and began to munch.

"Forgot about me already?" Wheeljack asked amused. Simultaneously Optimus, Ironhide and Fireflight pointed to the dog on the table.

Optimus made a noise like he was clearing his through and began to speak "I suppose some introductions are necessary" he paused "Bumblebee you know, and this is Sam Bumblebee is his guardian."

"Yellow" Sam waved at Wheeljack and Wheeljack nodded in acknowledgement.

"You know Ratchet and Ironhide, and this is Alana- both humans live with us" he added.

"Hello Alana" Wheeljack bent down and held out his hand; Alana immediately liked him and climbed onto his hand.

"Hello" she said "I'm in grade two" she told him.

"What's grade two?" Wheeljack asked. The whole school process was explained to Wheeljack who nodded in understanding "I see" he said.

"And this is Diesel" Optimus gestured to the dog which had curled up and was sleeping peacefully.

"He's cute" Wheeljack said.

"That he is" Optimus agreed.

Later that night when everyone was sent off to bed and stasis, Diesel had chosen to sleep by Sam and was curled up nicely at the foot of his bed. Wheeljack was to share a room with Ratchet for the time being until they could build him a room and a lab for his scientist work. Alana was being tucked into bed by Ironhide, she was tucked in good and Ironhide was leaving when she spoke,

"Our family got bigger right?" she said sleepily.

"That's right" said Ironhide.

"That's nice" yawned Alana.

"Sure is" Ironhide smiled and closed the door softly behind him and headed off to his room.


	19. Chapter 19

It had been a few weeks since the introduction of Wheeljack and Diesel to the family, both had assimilated well into the Autobot life. Diesel was taken for a walk each morning by who ever was free, this was usually Alana. Wheeljack had been given a room which was also connected to his lab.

It happened to be that this was the morning that Wheeljack had decided to start off with a bang. Smoke filtered from his room and the tremor had caused many things to fall from their place. Alana had been knocked out of her bed, while Sam and Diesel slept right through the bang. Ironhide was the first to reach the scene.

"Primus Jack" Ironhide pulled Wheeljack from the lab and began to open the front door letting all of the smoke out. "What did you blow up now?"

"I don't get it" Wheeljack said sadly as he began to fan the smoke away from him "It wasn't even turned on"

Ratchet came along a few moments later "Anyone hurt?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm fine" Wheeljack said brushing his shoulders of dust.

"What was that?" Alana asked she padded down the hallway towards them.

"Oh nothing Alana" Wheeljack said shrugging.

"He blew something up" Ironhide said.

"Again" Ratchet added.

Alana's tired eyes went wide as she thought of the prospect of something exploding, she had seen it on T.V but had never been near one. Sure she had been near gun fire but that didn't count. "Explosion" she breathed excitedly.

"Yeah…" Wheeljack said, walking into his lab knowing that Alana would follow.

"Was it big?" Alana asked as she walked into the lab. The smoke was clearing but it was still a bit hazy. The lab bench was charred and the wall it was against had turned a couple shades darker but that was the extent of the damage.

"Nah it wasn't too big" Wheeljack said as he sat down at his lab bench, he put a hand down for Alana to climb on and then set her on his shoulder.

"What were you trying to make?" Alana asked, she leaned against his cheek and watched as he worked.

"You know that remote thingy you guys have to watch T.V?" Wheeljack asked.

"Yeah?" Alana watched as Wheeljack placed a couple of tools on the table one she recognized as a welding tool.

"Well I kinda wanted to make one for the whole base" Wheeljack explained "But then it blew up"

Alana giggled at that "What would the remote do?" she asked.

"Well it would turn on lights and appliances, like in the kitchen of the washer and dryer that you and Sam use. It would also turn on the T.V and stuff like that"

"Cool" said Alana.

"I thought so too" Wheeljack said. He faintly heard Alana's stomach rumble and chuckled, gently he plucked her off his shoulder and set her on the ground. "Go get dressed and get some breakfast. You can help me out after that"

"Ok!" Alana excited, saluted him and then ran for her room to pick out some clothes.

After getting changed and having a rushed breakfast Alana rushed on back to Wheeljack's lab and ran into it.

"I'm back!" she shouted happily.

"Oh, good" Wheeljack put down his hand for her to climb on "I need your help, you came just in time" Alana giggled as she was set on the lab bench there she saw the makings of a casing for the remote. "Ok Alana I need you to hold onto this for me" Wheeljack handed her a small wire which she held on to. Wheeljack then placed the other end of the wire on the remote casing, "Ok lift the wire a bit" Alana did as she was told and lifted it. "Way above your head Alana, lift" Wheeljack told her as he bend down with the welding tool.

"Kay!" Alana waited holding the wore above her head, she was happy that she could help, Alana liked helping, she did it often in the med-lab and she liked to sit on Optimus' shoulder when he was sitting in the monitor room, there they would have conversations.

"Excellent Alana" Wheeljack said "you can let go of the wire now"

"Kay!" Alana let the wire drop and waited for the next task to be presented to her. Wheeljack gave her the next one and together they began to make something that resembled a remote.

It took a good part of the morning and part of the afternoon but in the end they managed to make something that looked pretty cool.

"Alright" Wheeljack said sitting back in a satisfied motion "Nice job Alana"

Alana gave him a thumb up "Can we try it?" she asked.

"Why not?" Wheeljack lifted Alana off the bench and set her on his shoulder. "Let's try turning off the lights."

"Kay" Wheeljack pressed a few buttons and the lights flickered.

"Hmmm" Wheeljack tried again and when nothing happened he let out a small sigh "Darn" he muttered, he tried once more but instead of turning off the lights the remote began to make a high pitched whirring sound. "Uh-oh" Wheeljack made a move to get out of the way but it was too late. There was a loud blast as the remote went up. The bang lasted only a few moments but the aftershock was far longer. The walls stopped rumbling and Alana's ears stopped ringing after another moment, she coughed away some smoke and smelled singed hair.

"Woah!" she shouted excitedly, "that was Awe-some! Can we do it again?" she asked.

Wheeljack couldn't help but to laugh "Why not" he shrugged "I seem to be good at blowing things up"

"Is everyone ok?!" Ratchet shouted into the room, he couldn't see through the smoke.

"We're fine!" Wheeljack shouted back. He came out of the room a few moments later with Alana in his hands.

"Ratchet!" Alana coughed "It was so awesome!" She waved her hands and grinned.

Ratchet looked down at Alana and shook his head "Alana, your hair…" he took Alana form Wheeljack and gestured for him to follow them to the med-lab.

In the med-lab Alana was bandaged for a few burns. Her hair was burned at the ends a bit but there was nothing Ratchet could do for that. Wheeljack had suffered minor scrapes but both were fine.

When they were released form the med-lab they came upon Ironhide and Bumblebee scolding Diesel for taking a leak in the base.

Alana ran up to them and pet Diesel on the head, Diesel made a sound of happiness and rubbed up against her, "good boy" she murmured.

"Alana you cant say good boy when he did something bad" Ironhide told her gathering both her and Diesel in his big hands.

"Oh…" Alana looked up at Ironhide with big eyes "He say's he's sorry"

"Alright" Ironhide said "Let's take him for a walk"

"Kay!" Alana nodded and Ironhide walked them outside.

Once he was standing in the grass he set Alana and Diesel down and watched them race each other around in circles. After a while Alana picked up a stick and threw it for Diesel. Diesel just stared at her his tongue hanging out of his small mouth,

"Fetch Diesel!" In order to demonstrate Alana went and got the stick ran back and threw it again for him, but it seemed like Diesel had no intention of fetching the stick, instead he laid down and rolled in the grass. "Diesel…" Alana stuck her hands on her hips and looked down at Diesel as sternly as she could but she could not hold the face for long, because Diesel was playing with her shoelace and it made her laugh. "You're silly" she told him. Then she sat down. Diesel took the opportunity and crawled onto her lap and began to lick her face happily.

Ironhide sat next to her and grinned "you know he reminds me of you when you were a baby" he said.

Alana frowned and began to rub the side of Diesel's neck "I do?"

"Especially the potty training bit, you were very difficult" he told her.

"Really?" Alana asked with a small smile.

"Mmm, we had to bribe you with cookies" Ironhide said.

"Do you think Diesel will be bribed with cookies?" Alana asked.

"Nah not cookies but maybe dog treats" Ironhide said.

"We should try that then"

"Maybe we should"

It took about a month for Diesel to finally get that he was supposed to go outside when a bathroom break was needed but in that time frame he still hadn't gotten what fetch was for. Also in that time frame there came letters from school. Alana was given a school list of what she was supposed to get and it made her depressed that she had to go back to school so soon. Along with the school supplies the Autobots realized that Alana was growing out of her clothes and that she needed new ones. So it was decided on a sunny Saturday morning that they would go to the mall to get Alana's needed school supplies.

The party that was going consisted of Alana herself, Ironhide, Ratchet, Optimus, Bumblebee and Sam. Wheeljack had an invention on which he was working and Fireflight was out taking Diesel for a walk.

Alana sat in Ironhide's passenger seat and led the group. Optimus drove at the rear, while he drove Optimus took the time to observe the humans who were walking down the street doing what ever it is that humans do on a Saturday morning. Optimus wasn't much interested in what the humans were doing but rather he was more interested in what they looked like. During his drive Optimus noticed a particular pattern in the looks of the females and the males. Males tended to stick to the clothes of a baggy nature, giving the appearance of a shabby person. The females seemed to be wearing clothes of a tight nature showing off their anatomy more so then the males. The males seemed to wear their hair short and messy whilst the girls had long flowing hair which was groomed neatly.

As Optimus noticed these things he also noticed that those who seemed to stick to the stereotypical of dressing seemed to be flanked by more friends and then those who dressed strangely had only a select few friends by their sides. Had Optimus been in his robot mode he would have been frowning, he knew that Alana did not like to wear feminine style clothes and it stood to reason that the reason she did not have very many friends was that she dressed and acted more like a boy than a girl. Optimus frowned mentally, was the human race really so simplistic?

Once they had reached the mall the Autobots turned on their holoforms. When they had all gathered Ironhide took one of Alana's hands while Ratchet took the other, he held the school list in his other hand and beneath it was a grocery list.

"Alright Alana, lets get you some school supplies" he said smiling down at her.

Alana nodded once "Kay!" she said. And together the Autobots, Alana and Sam began to walk towards the mall.

Once inside they were greeted by the usual mall noises, there were people chattering; the sounds of cash register's being filled and then there was soft music coming from the speakers overhead. The mall was fairly substantial in size, with two floors it presented a lot of choices for the Autobots to make. Naturally the most reasonable choice to make was Wal-Mart. It was there that the Autobots would be able to find all of the school supplies and get some good clothes for Alana. So with that in mind they headed towards the entrance.

Once they were in they were immediately drawn towards the right where a selection of school supplies was displayed. Ironhide grabbed a cart, and as he was wheeling it up to the first aisle Alana came up to him.

"Ironhide?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I sit in the shopping cart?"

"Sure" Ironhide bent down and hoisted Alana up and set her in the cart. Alana giggled as she sat at the very front of the cart. Ironhide began to push towards the first aisle, they entered and found that the rest of the Autobots were already there. Bumblebee and Sam were comparing sharpeners trying to find the best one while Optimus was examining the pencils and Ratchet was opening a binder. Ironhide paused to look at the markers while he was doing so Alana dug out the school supplies list and began to read the first item she needed.

"I need… p… Pen…cils… Pencils"

Optimus turned to look at her "Which kind?" he asked.

Alana looked back at the list and looked back up at Optimus "dunno" she said.

"There are different kinds of pencils?" Ratchet had put away the binder and walked over to Optimus.

"Yes… there is H1, H2, mechanical, point seven, point five and then there are pencils coloured differently."

"Well that's confusing" Ratchet scratched his head while the others gathered around to asses this difficult situation on pencil choice. After about a minute of contemplation Optimus grabbed a pack and showed them to Alana, they were normal yellow pencils. "Do these work?"

Alana nodded "I think so"

"Then we will get these" Optimus threw the pack into the cart and everyone looked towards Alana, waiting for her to read off the next item.

"I need a… scribbler" Alana looked up from the list and looked around. She spotted them a few moments later "There!" she pointed and everyone headed on over to the scribblers.

"Which one?" Bumblebee asked. There were fat scribblers, ones with small amounts of paper and ones that were divided into section by pieces of yellow cardboard. Then there were red ones, blue ones, ones that had Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, small animals and different abstract designs.

"This school supply list of too vague" Ironhide muttered. "How are we supposed to know which item is the right one?"

"I want that one!" Alana hung out of the cart and pointed to a thick scribbler with a car on the front. Optimus nodded and grabbed it for her, he then placed it in the cart and Alana began to read the next item. "Markers" she said. And so the Autobots went off to find markers. The rest of the school supplies hunt was much like its beginning, the Autobots would find an item that would have a lot of choices and after much deliberation an item would be chosen and they would move to the next item on the list. Once Alana had her school supplies Ironhide, Optimus and Alana split up with Bumblebee, Ratchet and Sam. Alana's group was going to shop for her new clothes while Sam's group went to the grocery section to get some more food for the fridge.

When Ironhide, Optimus and Alana had reached the clothes section Alana immediately rushed off to the boys section, Ironhide followed after her while Optimus remained where he was standing thinking. His voice stopped Alana and Ironhide.

"Alana, why don't you look at the girls clothes instead?" Optimus had reasoned that if Alana were to dress more like a girl maybe the bullying would stop and she would make some friends of the same gender as her.

Alana regarded him for a moment and then looked over to the girls section, it looked very… pink- she felt a shiver of horror go down her spine "No thank you" she said turning on her heel and proceeding towards the boys section. Ironhide looked towards Optimus and gave him a sympathetic shrug and then trotted after Alana. Optimus sighed and then he too followed after them.

Alana had decided that she first needed some t-shirts, so she walked on over to the section that sold shirts with funny saying's on them. She quickly picked out a few about homework and laziness, she thought they were fairly funny and laughed at each one of them. Slowly her t-shirt collection grew to a small pile in Ironhide's arms. Optimus regarded the small pile in Ironhide's arms and looked at Alana. She saw his expression and pouted slightly, she knew what he was going to say.

"Alana…" Optimus started "That's too many shirts, put some back"

"Aw… But-"

"No buts now, put some back" Optimus folded his arms to show that he was set on his decision. Alana gave him one last pitiful look before groaning in supposed agony and began to take some of the shirts away and put them back on the selves.

They moved onto pants next, Ironhide scanned Alana for her size and they chose out a few pants that would fit her. Alana had decided that she was big girl now and that she could wear pants that have a button and a zipper rather than the pull-ups. She held onto the pants herself and walked towards the sweater section where she was allowed to add three more hoodies to her extra large hoodie collection. They then proceeded to pick out some shorts for warm days. Alana had chosen two and was allowed to choose one more- she had spotted two that she really liked- one being a pair of bright red shorts and the other a silver pair with a pair of black stripes running down its side. She looked between the two, deliberating.

She looked.

She bit her lip in frustration.

She sighed.

She reached for one and then pulled her hand away.

She groaned.

Ironhide came up from behind her and watched as she tired her brain over the prospect of what pair of shorts to get. He chuckled softly and she looked over her shoulder with an angry look.

"You choose" she told him.

"Me?" Ironhide pointed to himself.

"Yeah!" Alana knew she wasn't going to be able to choose.

"Okay…" Ironhide looked between the two shirts.

His head tilted.

He thought hard.

He wondered which one she would like better. Then he closed his eyes and chose on at random. Pleased with his choice he handed it to her. She looked at the pair of shorts for a moment smiled at him and then said.

"Thanks, but I want the other ones"

Ironhide frowned at her and then switched the shorts "Picky" he muttered. Alana laughed and they moved on.

"Okay" Optimus clapped his hands together. "I think we have everything we need for you. Let's find the others and get out of here."

"There're coming over here" Ironhide pointed. Optimus turned and true enough Bumblebee, Ratchet and Sam were walking down the path, all of them looked confsed and somewhat frustrated.

"Hello" Ironhide said pleasantly, happy that his part of the shopping was over.

"Optimus" Ratchet called "We have a dilemma"

"Oh dear" Optimus sighed "What is it?"

"Well we were looking at the Kraft Dinner and wondering which one to get…" Ratchet began.

When suddenly Sam cut in "But then we found out that there is the original, pasta, egg noodles, extra cheesy, three cheese, and many more…"

"So which one do we get?" Bumblebee asked.

There was a long silence, Ironhide broke it by bending over and groaning "I hate shopping" he muttered.

-


	20. Chapter 20

Alana's first day of second grade was a hectic one. First off, she couldn't fit all of her new things into her backpack, so she had to search the base of another bag big enough to fit her things. Once she had found one she only had half an hour left to finish up and get ready for school. Grumbling to herself about the delay of time she toddled to the kitchen and was greeted with an overwhelming stench. She coughed and then sneezed; looking up through watery eyes she spotted Sam amidst the haze of smell.

"Sam!" Alana cried out "What's so smelly?!" she covered her nose and tried to hold her breath.

"What smell?" Sam asked looking around, with each turn on his head he would sniff loudly, he shrugged after a moment "All I smell is my new cologne"

"It's yucky!" Alana whined backing out of the kitchen.

"Too much?" Sam tilted his head "I wanted Sandra to notice me"

"She will! But then she'll run away Sam, you smell yucky!" Alana stuck out her tongue and backed out all the way into the hallway, she sneezed once more "Dang" Sam muttered, and he rushed out of the kitchen, past Alana (Who sneezed once more) and to his room. "Gotta take a shower!" he called over his shoulder.

Alana happy that he was gone re-entered the kitchen and opened the window as far as it would go. She then went to the cupboard to get her cereal but to her dismay there was none in sight.

"Aw man…" she groaned. She searched all of the cupboard's but there was no cereal, in fact most of the food was gone, except for the spinach- but Alana didn't like spinach so there was nothing to eat… she went to exit the kitchen to complain to someone about the lack of food when a huge explosion rocked the base, forcing Alana to her knees. She yelled out in surprise was she was forced to the ground by the power of the explosion, her head hit the ground hard and she saw stars. The sound washed over her and then from within there seemed to be a second explosion and what Alana thought was a faint yell.

Then as suddenly as it came the sound died and the trembling stopped. It took Alana a moment to regain her senses, for she was still dizzy from being hit on the head; she shakily got to her feet, still recovering. Her ears rang from the increased decibels, and when she tried to walk her legs would not support her so she just collapsed. She tried to stand once again after a moment of rest and this time she was sort of successful. And so she began to waddle towards the place where she thought the explosion had come from. As she made her way closer she saw smoke coming from Wheel jack's room. He was groaning from within the room, and then he suddenly began to yell,

"FRAG!" Alana's eyes widened at the swear, she gasped in surprise "Not again! SLAG IT!" Wheeljack groaned once more and suddenly there came the sound of his cerbo's dragging across the floor as he attempted to get out of his room. "RATCHET!" He shouted as he stumbled out of the room. As he did Alana saw the reason for his swears and though it did not seem possible her eye's widened farther and she let about a small moan of surprise. Wheeljack's arms were missing from the elbow down. Wheeljack stopped his stumbling and groaning when he spotted Alana, he attempted to hide his missing limbs but failed in doing so, in the end he just let them hand lose. "You ok Alana?" he asked

Alana swallowed, "Yup" she managed to say. "Just hit my head that's all… you should go see Ratchet" Alana told him.

"I will" Wheeljack nodded, he made a motion to leave to but then paused "Alana, can you do me a favour?"

"Sure" Alana nodded, but wished she hadn't for it made her head hurt.

"Go check on everyone else and when you've finished that come back to the Med Lab so Ratchet can take a look at your head" Wheeljack told her.

"Kay" And Alana went off to check on everyone else. The nearest room was Ironhide's she entered it and was greeted with another bad image.

There she saw Ironhide laying on the ground clutching his thigh groaning.

"Ironhide!" she ran up to him and put a hand against his cheek.

"Hello" Ironhide said weakly

"What happened? Are you Ok? Can you stand?" Alana asked rubbing her hand over the cool metal.

"Tripped over my gun when the explosion happened, it set off and hit me" had Ironhide been human he would have been clenching his teeth in agony.

"I'll get Ratchet!" Alana said Ironhide tuned his head so that his big blue optic looked into her eyes.

"Thanks" he mumbled.

Alana wasted no more time and sped off towards Ratchet's med lab. There she found Ratchet already tending to Wheeljack's arms.

"RATCHET!" Alana yelled, even though it hurt her head. "Come help Ironhide!"

"Is he hurt as well?" Ratchet asked calmly turned to Alana.

"Yup, accidentally shot himself" Alana said gaining the same calm as Ratchet. Wheeljack snorted and he was hit over the head with a wrench.

"Alright I'll go get him; you go check on everyone else"

"Mm" and once more Alana speed off. She went to Fireflight's room next and found nothing but a note on the floor. It read as such:

Dear everyone

You guys need to stock your cupboards more!!! The food was all gone after and hour it tasted good though anyways! I happened to be searching the internet (You know that really cool search engine that those humans use) and the internet just happened to say that there was an Air Show in a near by town of course I'm excited! And so I'm gonna go see it (that's why I'm gone and this note is here, be silly though if I wrote it and was still at the base LOL ) so I wont be home for a while.

See you later !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the most awesome Fireflight!!!!!!!

Alana sighed and stuck the note in her pocket and went off to the next room. There she found Optimus sitting in front of the monitor with Diesel in his hands; he was staring intently at the screen.

"Optimus!" Alana called out.

"Wha- oh, Hi Alana" Optimus looked down and smiled softly at her, "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yup" Alana smiled back "How bout you?"

"Fine, Diesel had a bit of a shock but other than that he's fine" to prove it to her he set Diesel down. Alana bent down and the small dog ran into her arms and began to give her doggy kisses.

After a moment Alana looked up "did you spot something on the monitor?"

"Yes" Optimus said "I spotted something that looked abnormal, so I'm tracking it"

"Alright, good luck" Alana said "I'm gonna go check on Sam and Bumblebee"

"Take Diesel with you" Optimus said and then he went back to typing on the computer.

And so Alana left Optimus and went to Sam's room. She was about to open the door when her ears picked up the sound of running water and Sam's terrible voice singing to some Celine Dion song. Alana rolled her eyes and walked away- he was fine. She then went over to Bee's room but found it empty so she went to the next obvious place- the T.V room. There she found Bumblebee sitting watching Star Trek apparently unaware that any sort of explosion had happened. Happy that everyone was safe Alana walked back to the Med Lab to get her bump checked and to see how Ironhide and Wheeljack were doing. Diesel was close on her heels following her happily apparently over the explosion.

Once she was at the Med Lab she found Ratchet running back and forth between Ironhide and Wheeljack. He had already turned off the power in Wheeljack's arms so they hung limply at his sides. Ironhide was laying on the table groaning dramatically.

"Shut up!" Ratchet snapped, his patience for the two was at the limit. When Ironhide did not cease his groaning Ratchet chucked a hammer at him. The hammer hit his chest plate and bounced off, it hit the floor with a clang. Ironhide weakly lifted his head.

"That wasn't very nice" He murmured.

"Baby" Ratchet growled. He was bending down mending the frayed wires of Wheeljack's arms. Alana walked on over to Ironhide's table and walked up the stairs, when she had reached his head she began to rub his cheek.

"You're a big baby" she told him mimicking Ratchet.

"No I'm not" Ironhide whined "I'm just old that's all"

"Baby" Alana grinned.

"Jerk" Ironhide said also grinning, he turned his head to look at her, but when he did his smile faded slightly. "What happened to your head?" he asked.

"Bumped it" Alana said rubbing the spot where it was sore.

"More like smashed it, that's one heck of a bruise you got there missy" Ironhide shook his head at her "You get hurt way to often" he muttered to himself.

"I'm tough" Alana told him.

"That you are" Ironhide turned to yell at Ratchet "Hey Doc! Leave that idiot and come look at Alana's head for a moment"

"I'm getting to it" Ratchet grumbled. After a moment he walked over and crouched down. Alana then felt the familiar sensation of herself being scanned and then Ratchet stood up. He walked over to a draw pulled out something small and handed it to her. He was smiling "Nothing a little ice can't cure" he said. Alana took the pack and pressed it against her head, hissing slightly at the coldness.

"Hey Alana" Wheeljack said suddenly "Shouldn't you be at school?" His head was tilted to the side in a state of confusion. There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room took this tidbit of information and recognized this to be true. Alana then quickly put a finger in front of her lips and shushed Wheeljack.

"Alana, Wheeljack's right go ask Optimus to give you a ride to school" Ratchet walked over to Alana, picked her up and walked to her the exit of the Lab, he set her down in the hallway.

"Good luck at school!" Wheeljack shouted.

"We'll miss you!" Ironhide said loudly.

"Bye!' Alana called back.

"We love you Alana" Ratchet smiled at her.

"Love you too!" she smiled and with the ice pack pressed against her head she rushed off to find Optimus, with Diesel running after her yipping happily.

Alana found Optimus right where she had left him. He was leaning back in his chair staring happily at the screen. When he saw that Alana had entered he turned his chair and smiled at her.

"False alarm Alana!" he said "It was just a falling satellite"

"Cool" Alana walked forward intrigued "Can I see?"

"Sure" Optimus bent down and put his hand on the floor so that she could climb on, when she was on he lifted his hand and placed her on his shoulder. He then pressed a few buttons and Alana saw the screen go green. It showed an image of the world and then a small blip of flashing green lay beside the coast of Australia. She stared at it for a few moments and then looked down at the keyboard below her. It was unlike the ones she used at school this one was far larger in both size and the quantity of the keys. Rather than A, B, C's she saw a cybertronian language. She recognized some of the symbols and mode some of the noises that went with the symbols. Optimus listened to her, smiling and then suddenly he frowned. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

There was a pause "…no…"

Optimus checked the time and realized that she was at least an hour and a half late. "Alana go get your things, I'll drive you"

"Kay" Alana was placed on the ground and went to go get her two bags, Optimus followed after her.

When they were outside Optimus transformed and Alana got in, she placed her bags on the floor and sat back. The seat belt snaked around her and Optimus began to drive.

"I'll take you into school and explain why your late, hopefully you wont get into too much trouble" they lapsed into silence as she did so her stomach grumbled and she groaned. "Something wrong Alana?" Optimus asked.

"Hungry" Alana moaned "Fireflight at all the food.

Optimus sighed "Well I suppose another half hour of school missed wont matter" he then turned down the roan and began to head towards a Smitty's.

After a hearty breakfast of pancakes drilled with chocolate, maple syrup and whipping cream. And two glasses of milk Alana felt much better. She was then driven to school. Optimus took her into the office and smiled apologetically towards the secretary.

"Sorry about this" he said "but we had a pretty hectic morning, I wasn't able to get her to school until now"

"Last name?" the secretary asked looking over her glasses.

"Autobot" Optimus answered. The secretary typed on the keyboard for a few moments.

"Ah yes" she said looking back at Optimus her glasses flashing from the sudden motion "Second grade, Mr. MacPherson"

"My teacher is a dude!" Alana smiled at this- she had never had a man for a teacher before, maybe she could get along with him better than the other ones.

"I'm sure you'll find Mr. MacPherson an excellent teacher, he's in classroom 40B"

"Kay!" said Alana happily. She turned to Optimus and he turned to her.

"Good luck!" He said. He then bent down and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. He then handed her, her extra bag and gently pushed her away. "Have fun"

"I will" Alana waved to him and with that she walked away.

**Hey guys! Sorry about all the delays in the stories. I've moved twice in the past few months and am now living in a trailer- I also happen to be building my own house so as you can see I've been quite busy. But now I'm starting to find more time in my hectic life and can finally get back to my stories. YAY! **

**I decided to end the chapter here because I have a sort of different idea for the next chapter and it requires a whole chapter to its self. So I'll be busy writing, but for now enjoy! **


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